How Did Turkey Gain Control Of Libya? – OpEd

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Turkey and Russia have agreed to keep pushing for a ceasefire in Libya, but Ankara said the leader of the eastern forces was not legitimate and his forces must withdraw from key positions for any credible deal to emerge. Turkey made an agreement with Russia to work on a credible and sustainable ceasefire in Libya,” President Tayyip Erdogan’s top security adviser Ibrahim Kalin told Reuters.

The deal must be based on a return to the Libyan frontlines in 2015, requiring Haftar’s forces to pull back from the Mediterranean city of Sirte, gateway to Libya’s eastern oilfields, and Jufra, an airbase near the centre of the country. For the ceasefire to be sustainable, Jufra and Sirte should be evacuated by Haftar’s forces

On the other hand, the United States has sent warplanes to Jufra via Syria to support Russian mercenaries who are fighting alongside Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA).

Turkey accuses France of supporting Haftar politically, having previously given him military assistance to fight Islamist militants.

France’s respond foreign ministry rebuffed U.S. assertions that a European Union naval mission to enforce a U.N. weapons embargo for Libya was biased and not serious, saying Washington should itself be doing more to stop the flow of weapons.

In the second cooperation between Erdogan and US, Trump agreed to work more closely in Libya to ensure lasting stability in the country — even though he knows that Turkey supports the internationally recognized Government of National Accord in Libya. President Trump originally supported the Haftar government, but when Haftar’s forces weakened, he was now in solidarity with Turkey to rearrange reconciliation.

The House of Representatives based in the eastern port of Tobruk wants Egypt to support Libya to stave off what it described as a Turkish invasion and occupation. They claim that Turkey has a plan to seize Libya and they have the growing stakes, where battle lines solidified earlier this month near the city of Sirte after the GNA and Turkey repelled a yearlong assault on Tripoli by the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA).

There will be a further escalation in the region that could risk igniting a direct conflict in Libya among the foreign powers that have already poured in weapons and fighters in violation of an arms embargo. There is also escalation between the LNA, backed by the United Arab Emirates, Russia, and Egypt and Turkey with the U.S.

Egyptian President el-Sisi has already warned his country’s army might enter Libya if the GNA and its Turkish allies renew an assault on Sirte. Tribal leaders told Sisi at a meeting in Cairo that they authorized him and the Egyptian army to intervene in their country to counter what they described as the “Turkish invasion and terrorism”.

Turkey is backed by Qatar and wants to control the Muslim Brotherhood in the region and to place the region under Turkey and Qatar.

In the past, Russia supported Haftar, but now they have moved support Turkey — these are the interests between those countries who do not care about the Libyan people, they just want oil. And so the war continues for years and years, and there is no solution for reform.

In the end, we find that the region is burning with fire, the Turkish president provokes the superpowers to control Libya and threatens to escalate into a wider conflict.

Prof. Miral Sabry AlAshry

Prof. Miral Sabry AlAshry is Co-lead for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) at the Centre for Freedom of the Media, the Department of Journalism Studies at the University of Sheffield.

3 thoughts on “How Did Turkey Gain Control Of Libya? – OpEd

  • August 1, 2020 at 4:49 am
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    Of course Turkey and Russia look for their own interests. But one thing is not for sure clear why you support Sisi, an illegitimate busterd government, and Hafter, another busterd associate of Gaddafi, and French government that has strongly stood against US decisions about Libya.

    Reply
    • August 4, 2020 at 4:25 pm
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      El Sisi is not trespassing millions of miles away from his own land to steal the wealth of Libya and at the same time causing serious security alerts to Egypt through his direct use of terrorist militants a few miles away from the Egyptian border…

      Reply
  • August 1, 2020 at 8:23 am
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    I assume there is mistake in your saying:
    On the other hand, the United States has sent warplanes to Jufra via Syria to support Russian mercenaries.
    Thank you

    Reply

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