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Turkey poised to send troops to Libya
[DW] Turkey poised to send troops to Libya, ratcheting up tensions in E. MediterraneanTurkey is preparing to send troops and advanced weapons to the embattled UN-backed Libyan government. The military muscle flexing puts it at odds with Russia and several Arab states backing Libya's rival government. Turkey will send troops to Libya at the request of the UN-backed government in Tripoli as soon as next month, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday, in a move likely to deepen an international proxy struggle in the north African country ravaged by civil war. Libya's internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) has been struggling to repel a months-long offensive by General Khalifa Haftar's eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA), which has been supported by Egypt, Jordan, Russia, the United Arab Emirates and France. Last month, Turkey and the Tripoli-based GNA leader Fayez al-Serraj signed a defense cooperation deal and a separate one on maritime boundaries in the Eastern Mediterranean, where Turkey is locked in a dispute with regional rivals Greece, Cyprus, Egypt and Israel over access to waters rich in natural gas. The defense deal, which came into effect on Thursday, allows Turkey to send military training personnel and equipment to GNA forces, but the deployment of troops needs parliamentary approval. "Now that there is an invitation [from Libya] we'll accept it," Erdogan told members of his ruling party on Thursday. "We'll put a resolution authorizing a military deployment on the agenda as soon as parliament reopens," he said, adding it would pass on January 8 or 9. "We will give all forms of support to the Tripoli government which is fighting against a putschist general backed by various Arab and European countries," Erdogan said. While no official request from Tripoli has been made yet, GNA Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha on Thursday suggested his government would extend an invitation for the troop deployment. Haftar has "provided foreign forces with military bases in Libya," GNA Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha told journalists in Tunisia on Thursday. "If this position continues we have the right to defend Tripoli and we will officially ask the Turkish government for its military support." Posted by: 3dc 2019-12-27 |
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