Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he could be sending troops to support the UN-backed government in Tripoli next month to support it in its fight against the forces of General Khalifa Haftar based in eastern Libya.
Last month, Turkey signed a two-pronged deal with Fayez al-Serraj, the leader of Libya’s Government of National Accord (GNA) which is based in Tripoli. The first deal was an agreement on maritime boundaries which ignores the claims of Greece, Cyprus and Israel, who are to sign an agreement on 2 January in Athens. The second is a defence cooperation agreement, that was activated on Thursday and enables Turkey to send military trainers and equipment to support the GNA in Libya.
The deployment of troops to Libya is subject to Turkish parliamentary approval.
According to Vima, Erdogan told members of his AK Party this week that: “since there is an invitation (from Libya) right now, we will accept it … We will put the bill on sending troops to Libya on the agenda as soon as parliament opens.”
Mr Erdogan said that the legislation was expected to be passed in parliament by 9 January.
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Tripoli has not yet made a request for troops but its interior minister, Fathi Bashagha, said on Thursday that his government may yet ask Ankara for the troops.
Mr Bashagha said General Haftar had provided bases for foreign forces and “if this position continues we have the right to defend Tripoli and we will officially ask the Turkish government for its military support.”
Mr Haftar is receiving support from Russia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.
On 25 December, the Turkish president visited Tunisia to gain support for a ceasefire in Lybia. Erdogan said that Tunisia had agreed to support the GNA.
According to Deutsche Welle, an Austrian Institute for European and Security Policy analyst, Micha’el Tanchum, said that Turkey was restricted in its ability to defend its interests in the Eastern Mediterranean.
“Turkey’s current Libya strategy has been over a year in the making that has witnessed a slow process of calibrated escalation by Ankara in the Libyan theatre. However, Turkey’s maritime agreement with the Tripoli government stands only as long as that government does,” the analyst is quoted as saying.
“The Turkey-Libya accord on military cooperation that allows for Turkish troops in Libya was an essential step for Turkey. In this manner, an already tense Eastern Mediterranean has now been coupled to an escalation spiral in Libya,” said the analyst.
Deutsche Welle has also reported that Russia, which is backing Syrian President Basshar Assad, has expressed concern over the reports of Turkey sending troops to back the GNA.
Russia has backed the Wagner group of private military contractors to support Haftar’s forces. The Libyan general has also received armed drones from Russia.
In response to the Russia’s Libyan involvement, Mr Erdogan said that there were 2,000 Wagner fighters deplayed in Libya as well as 5,000 Sudanese fighters.
A Turkish diplomatic delegation has been in Moscow since Monday to seek a compromise on Syria.
Russian president Vladimir Putin will be in Turkey on 8 January for the opening of the TurkStream natural gas pipeline. Syria and Libya are sure to be on the agenda.
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