Can Turkiye’s Libya breakthrough reshape Eastern Mediterranean diplomacy?

Istanbul, Turkiye – Once adversaries, Turkiye and the leadership of eastern Libya are now building closer political and military ties. Ankara has also repaired relations with Egypt in the past few years after previous hostility, but a maritime dispute is testing how far those reconciliations can go.On Wednesday, Turkiye’s Ministry of National Defence renewed its offer to sign a maritime boundary agreement with Cairo, arguing that Egypt could gain more than 15,000sq km (5,790sq miles) of maritime jurisdiction – a figure that is Ankara’s estimate – compared with a potential further agreement with Greece, with which Cairo signed a partial maritime deal in 2020.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Saddam Haftar is eyeing the throne in Libyalist 2 of 3Iran’s calculations as US escalation looms: Trust, midterms, Hormuzlist 3 of 3Are GCC countries looking for a regional security pact with Iran?end of listThe offer came eight days after Libya’s eastern-based parliament in Tobruk reversed years of opposition and approved a maritime agreement signed between its rival, the internationally recognised government based in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, and Turkiye in 2019.The agreement de...