Turkish deputies approved a motion on Thursday (January 2nd) allowing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to send soldiers to Libya to support the government recognized by the UN, a measure that could worsen the fratricidal conflict that is tearing the country apart.
During an extraordinary parliamentary session, 325 deputies voted for and 184 against this text which gives the Turkish army a mandate to intervene in Libya, valid for one year, said the president of the Turkish National Assembly, Mustafa Sentop . The main opposition parties voted against the text adopted on Thursday, arguing that an intervention in Libya could destabilize the region and lead Turkey, which has lost dozens of soldiers in Syria, into a new quagmire.
Power struggle between two camps
It remains to be seen whether President Erdogan, who has to decide, will indeed send troops to this country separated from Turkey by the Mediterranean, or whether military support will take another form, such as the dispatch of "advisers" .
The Turkish government says it is acting in response to a call for help from the Government of National Unity (GNA) of Fayez al-Sarraj, faced with an offensive by the strongman of eastern Libya, Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, who is trying to take Tripoli.
Sending Turkish troops to Libya could aggravate the fratricidal conflicts that have torn that country apart since the fall of the regime of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, fueled by regional powers. Libya has indeed become the scene of a power struggle between two camps: on the one hand, Turkey and Qatar, which support the GNA, and on the other, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, which support the forces of Marshal Haftar.
Ankara concluded two agreements at the end of November with the internationally recognized Libyan government based in Tripoli, one on security and military cooperation, the other on the maritime borders in the eastern Mediterranean.
With AFP and Reuters
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