bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Agencies

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan indicated that he was getting ready to deploy his troops in Libya to support the country’s internationally recognised government in Tripoli.
Erdogan flew to Tunisia on Wednesday in a surprise visit where he and President Kais Saied discussed steps for a ceasefire in Libya and a return to political dialogue.
The Libya crisis is taking a toll on neighbouring countries, Tunisia in particular, Erdogan said.
The Turkish president said his recent dealings with Libyan Prime Minister Fayez Al-Sarraj’s Government of National Accord (GNA) should be seen as “harbinger of steps that we may take”.
The fighting in oil-rich Libya has threatened to plunge the North African country into violence rivalling the 2011 conflict that ousted and killed long-time dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

Turkey has already held talks with Libyans about a possible troop deployment to support the GNA in its fight against Khalifa Hifter, a rebel commander who has no political legitimacy, Erdogan said.
“If there is an invitation, we would of course evaluate it,” Erdogan said in a televised press conference jointly held with Saied, Tunisia’s new president.
Erdogan’s comments mark his increasing support for the government in Tripoli in the face of an offensive by Hifter to capture the Libyan capital.
Besides Turkey, the Tripoli-based government is backed by Italy and Qatar. The eastern government is supported by France, Russia, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and other key Arab countries.
Libya conflict: Russian mercenaries from the shadowy Wagner Group are spearheading the battle for capital Tripoli
Erdogan said mercenaries fighting in Libya include 5,000 men from Sudan and another 2,000 from Wagner, a group headed by a confidante of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Russia has denied sending mercenaries to fight in Libya, and has said it was very concerned about the prospect of Turkish troops being deployed there.
Turkey and Russia have been cooperating in the search for a political solution to Syria’s eight-year war, even though they back opposing sides. They also have strong ties in defence and trade.

The Tunisia visit follows two agreements Erdogan struck with the Libyan government that controls the capital, Tripoli, and some of the country’s west.
The military agreement signed into law last week allows Turkey to dispatch military experts and personnel, along with weapons, despite a UN arms embargo that has been violated by other international actors.
Turkey has already sent the GNA Bayraktar drones to counter those of Hifter’s forces.
Tripoli recently signed a maritime agreement with Ankara, expanding Turkey’s claims over a large area of the Mediterranean.
Chinese drones hunt Turkish drones in Libya air war
The discovery in recent years of vast gas reserves in the eastern Mediterranean has put Turkey at odds with littoral states Greece, Egypt, Israel and Cyprus.
While the European Union has threatened Ankara with sanctions for illegally drilling off the coast of Cyprus, Turkey hopes its accord with Tripoli will help legitimise its exploration.
Turkey, which has occupied the northern part of Cyprus since 1974, recently sent a military drone to the island, and has warned that it will block all gas exploration it does not approve of.

In striking the deal with Libya, analysts say Ankara has essentially put both Greece and Cyprus on immediate watch, showing it is prepared to act tough to get its way and/or force new negotiations over their long-standing disputes.
As well as putting Turkey on a collision course with Greece and Cyprus, it ratchets up tensions between Ankara and the EU, adding to ongoing disputes over migration policy and wider questions over Turkey’s role in Nato.
Turkey to keep Russian S-400 missiles, says it won’t bow to US sanctions threat
It also raises the stakes with Egypt, which has been at odds with Turkey since the Egyptian military overthrew Islamist President Mohammed Mursi in 2013. Many of Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood backers now make their home in Turkey. In Libya, Egypt is more closely aligned with Hifter, meaning Cairo and Ankara are on opposite sides over the maritime deal.

Israel has been more circumspect over the Turkey-Libya move. One reason, analysts suggest, is that if the Israel-Cyprus-Greece-Italy pipeline becomes unviable, Israel may have to explore ways of exporting gas via Turkey instead.
Russia is another piece in the puzzle. While it and Turkey are at odds over Syria, they coordinate on energy policy, and Moscow is keen for Turkey to transship energy.
Russia and Turkey will discuss Libyan military support at a summit next month.
Bloomberg, Associated Press, Reuters


Nato member Turkey reaffirms Brics ambitions amid transatlantic rifts

Trump says Iran leaders should be ‘very worried’ as talks near

US-Iran nuclear talks set for Oman amid rising Middle East tensions

Iran plans nuclear talks with US as Trump warns of ‘bad things’

Turkey

Turkey, after intervening in Syria, readies troops for war-torn Libya

Turkish forces in Tal Abyad in northern Syria in October. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan indicated that he was getting ready to deploy his troops in Libya. File photo: Xinhua

A drone over Al Aziziya. MUST CREDIT: Photo for The Washington Post by Lorenzo Tugnoli

A military position on the Ain Zara front line in Tripoli, Libya, in May 2019. MUST CREDIT: Photo for The Washington Post by Lorenzo Tugnoli

FILE PHOTO: Turkish drilling vessel Yavuz is escorted by Turkish Navy frigate TCG Gemlik (F-492) in the eastern Mediterranean Sea off Cyprus, August 6, 2019. REUTERS/Murad Sezer/File Photo

FILED - 16 September 2019, Turkey, Ankara: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) welcomes Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Cankaya Palace. The two leaders held talks on the situation in Libya and Syria in a phone call. Photo: -/Russian Presidency/dpa - ATTENTION: editorial use only and only if the credit mentioned above is referenced in full

Turkey to keep Russian S-400 missiles, says it won’t bow to US sanctions threat

Russia’s S-400 missile defence systems. Photo: Reuters

FILE PHOTO: Russian servicemen sit in the cabins of S-400 missile air defence systems in Tverskaya Street in central Moscow, Russia April 29, 2019. REUTERS/Tatyana Makeyeva/File Photo

Chinese drones hunt Turkish drones in Libya air war

A Chinese Wing Loong II drone. File photo: Xinhua

FILE - This Monday, April 8, 2019 file handout satellite image, provided by Maxar, shows Mitiga airport after a reported airstrike by the self-styled Libyan National Army, led by Field Marshal Khalifa Hifter, in Tripoli, Libya. Libya's various militias, many of which are little more than criminal gangs, are mobilizing to fight over the capital. Hifter's forces boast MiG fighter jets supplied by neighboring Egypt, as well as drones, attack helicopters and mine-resistant vehicles. (2019 Maxar Technologies via AP, File)

(FILES) In this file photo taken on May 7, 2018, Libyan Strongman Khalifa Haftar salutes during a military parade in the eastern city of Benghazi, during which he announced a military offensive to take from "terrorists" the city of Derna, the only part of eastern Libya outside his forces' control. - Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar, whose forces have been battling to capture the seat of the UN-recognised government in Tripoli since April 2019, has said he is open to dialogue after repeatedly rejecting UN calls for talks. "When all is said and done, we need dialogue and we need to sit down" at the negotiating table, Hafar said in a statement issued late on September 25 on the eve of a special session on Libya on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. (Photo by Abdullah DOMA / AFP)

Libya conflict: Russian mercenaries from the shadowy Wagner Group are spearheading the battle for capital Tripoli

Sirte forces, which are allied to the UN-backed government in Tripoli, are fighting forces backing eastern commander Khalifa Hifter. File photo: Reuters

The Bayraktar TB2 drone is pictured flying on December 16, 2019 at Gecitkale Airport in Famagusta in the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). - The Turkish military drone was delivered to northern Cyprus today amid growing tensions over Turkey's deal with Libya that extended its claims to the gas-rich eastern Mediterranean. The Bayraktar TB2 drone landed in Gecitkale Airport in Famagusta around 0700 GMT, an AFP correspondent said, after the breakaway northern Cyprus government approved the use of the airport for unmanned aerial vehicles. It followed a deal signed last month between Libya and Turkey that could prove crucial in the scramble for recently discovered gas reserves in the eastern Mediterranean. (Photo by Birol BEBEK / AFP)

A fighter of Libya's UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) of Fayez Serraj, fires his rifle during clashes with forces of the self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA), led by Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar, at the Al-Khalla frontline in Tripoli, Libya on Aug. 24, 2019. (Amru Salahuddien/DPA/Abaca Press/TNS)

(FILES) This file photo taken in Tripoli on June 29, 2019 shows fighters loyal to the internationally-recognised Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) displaying Chinese-made shells bearing the markings of the United Arab Emirates (left side on the box), which were reportedly seized from forces loyal to General Khalifa Haftar in Gharyan, 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of Tripoli. - From buying an Irish navy boat re-registered as a "pleasure yacht" to enlisting a Canadian firm to recruit Sudanese fighters -- Libya's warring parties are running rings around a UN arms embargo. Drones, armoured vehicles, anti-tank missiles -- more and more sophisticated arms have been delivered to the two camps in recent months. The report accuses the UAE of delivering a Russian aerial defence system (Pantsir-S1) to Haftar's forces. (Photo by - / AFP)

FILE - In this Aug. 14, 2017 file photo, Libyan militia commander General Khalifa Hifter, top center, listens to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, bottom center, during their meeting in Moscow, Russia. Officials in Libya’s U.N.-backed administration say they plan to present evidence to Moscow of Russian mercenaries fighting alongside their adversary in their country’s war. Libyan officials say up to 800 fighters from the Russian private security contractor Wagner Group have joined the forces of Hifter, the commander of forces battling for months trying to capture Libya’s capital, Tripoli. (AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev, File)

News

World

Middle East


Turkey’s president has vowed to increase military support to the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA)
Khalifa Hifter’s opposing forces in eastern Libya has received support from Russia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates



Turkey’s president said his country would not remain silent in the face of ‘mercenaries’ such as the Russian-backed Wagner, a group of private military contractors, supporting Khalifa Hifter’s forces in eastern Libya.
