It's official: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sends his troops to Libya. The announcement was expected. On January 2, Turkish deputies approved a motion authorizing the military to support the UN-recognized Government of National Unity (GNA) of Fayez al-Sarraj. The GNA has been threatened for several months by an offensive by Marshal Khalifa Haftar, the strong man from eastern Libya.
The announcement comes three days before the summit in Berlin on Sunday devoted to the Libyan crisis, in which Erdogan will participate, and after the failure of discussions that took place earlier this week in Moscow. Marshal Haftar refused to sign a ceasefire agreement negotiated under the mediation of Turkey and Russia.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan added that Turkey would continue to use all its diplomatic and military means to ensure stability at its southern border, land or sea, integrating Libya into this objective.
Risk of worsening the fratricidal conflict?
This decision is not unanimous in Turkey. During the January 2 vote, the Turkish opposition parties opposed it, arguing that an intervention in Libya could destabilize the region and drag Turkey into a new quagmire.
The Turkish government then claimed to respond to the call for help from the Government of National Unity. But there are fears that sending Turkish troops to Libya will worsen the fratricidal conflicts that have torn that country apart since the fall of the Muammar Gaddafi regime in 2011 and which are fueled by opposing 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.
With AFP and Reuters
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