Turkey fully supports the Libyan National Accord Government (GNA) and will train the GNA forces; for Europe, the “obvious” choice is to work with Turkey, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in an article for Politico.
According to Erdogan, the European Union needs to “show the world that it is an important player in the international arena”.
“The upcoming peace conference in Berlin is a very important step towards this goal, but European leaders should talk a little less and focus on specific steps. Given that Europe is less interested in providing military support to Libya, the obvious choice is to work with Turkey, which is already promised military assistance”, – said the Turkish leader.
“Turkey fully supports the legitimate government of Libya supported by the UN… We will train the Libyan security forces and help them fight terrorism, human trafficking and other serious threats to international security”, – Erdogan said.
At the end of November 2019, Tayyip Erdogan and Fayez Sarraj, the Head of the Libyan National Accord Government, which controls only part of the country, signed memoranda of military cooperation and mutual understanding in the region that were condemned in the sea. Following the Turkish Parliament’s approval of military support for Libya on January 2, Ankara said on January 6 that it had sent the military to help Sarraj.
After the overthrow and assassination of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Libya virtually ceased to function as a single state. Dual power reigns in the country now. The parliament elected by the people sits in the east, and in the west, in the capital Tripoli, the Government of National Accord, formed with the support of the UN and the European Union, rules. The authorities of the eastern part of the country operate independently of Tripoli and cooperate with the Libyan National Army of Marshal Khalifa Haftar.
In Berlin, January 19 will host the international conference on the settlement in Libya at the highest level. Prior to this, an inter-Libyan meeting was held with the participation of representatives of the Russian Federation and Turkey in Moscow