Egypt, UAE and Saudi Arabia Side With Greece Against Turkey-Libya Sea Deal
Three Arab nations have aligned with Greece in contesting the controversial Turkey-Libya maritime agreement, deepening regional fractures over Eastern Mediterranean boundaries.
A significant diplomatic front is forming in the Eastern Mediterranean as Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia have expressed support for Greece in its ongoing dispute with Turkey and Libya over a contested maritime boundary accord. The alignment signals that what began as a bilateral territorial disagreement has matured into a broader geopolitical fault line, with Arab heavyweights choosing sides in a conflict that carries major implications for offshore energy rights and regional influence.
The Turkey-Libya memorandum of understanding, signed in 2019, drew immediate condemnation from Athens, which argued the deal illegally overlooks the island of Crete and effectively carves through Greek-claimed exclusive economic zone waters. Greece's position has long been that Turkey's agreement with Libya's Tripoli-based government violates international maritime law, a view now apparently shared — at least diplomatically — by three of the Arab world's most economically and militarily consequential states.
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The backing from Cairo, Abu Dhabi, and Riyadh is more than symbolic. Egypt already has its own rival maritime delimitation agreement with Greece, signed in 2020, which directly contradicts the Turkey-Libya deal by establishing overlapping jurisdictional claims in the same waters. The UAE and Saudi Arabia, for their part, have long viewed Turkey's regional ambitions with suspicion, particularly Ankara's support for Islamist-aligned factions during the Libyan civil war. This convergence of interests makes the coalition a strategically coherent, if loosely formalized, counterweight to Turkish influence.
For Ankara, the development represents a diplomatic setback, though Turkish officials have consistently dismissed international criticism of the maritime pact as legally unfounded. The dispute remains unresolved in any binding international forum, and the underlying tension over Eastern Mediterranean energy exploration — including rights to potentially vast natural gas reserves — ensures the issue will remain a live geopolitical contest for years to come. How Greece leverages this Arab support in multilateral settings, including within NATO where Turkey is also a member, will be closely watched.
Continue reading at Reuters.
