On 21 September 2011, the governments of Türkiye (Turkey) and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) signed a maritime boundary agreement delimiting their overlapping continental shelf claims. Running east to west in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, the boundary spans 130 nautical miles. This maritime boundary, defined by 27 points, was agreed upon as an “equitable solution,” which resulted in a delimitation line closer to the coast of Northern Cyprus than a boundary based purely on equidistance would have produced.

The validity of the 2011 Agreement has been questioned as the independence of Northern Cyprus has only been recognized by Türkiye. The TRNC declared independence from Cyprus in 1983 following decades of internal strife and civil war between Cypriots identifying as either Turkish or Greek. The international community generally recognizes the Greek Republic of Cyprus as the sole sovereign power of the island and its adjacent waters. Turkish and United Nations Peacekeeping Forces (UNFICYP) remain active along the de facto land border that divides the island of Cyprus.