France and Britain stressed on Thursday the need to reach a political settlement in Libya under the auspices of the United Nations, while the Turkish foreign minister stressed the exclusion of retired Major General Khalifa Hifter from any political dialogue, and condemned what he called the UAE approach to stir discord in Libya and other countries.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his guest, French President Emmanuel Macron, discussed several issues, including the Libyan file.
According to a statement issued by Johnson's office, "the two sides discussed the latest developments in the situation in Libya, and the need for a United Nations-led political process that brings together all parties to end the ongoing conflict in the country."
For his part, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoغلlu said that retired Major General Khalifa Hifter had no legitimacy in Libya "so he should not sit at the negotiating table" to search for any future political settlement.
Jawishoglu reminded that the efforts made during the Berlin and Moscow talks to declare a ceasefire were unsuccessful due to Haftar's position. "Haftar has no authority, and basically it has no legitimacy."
He said, "A coup like Hifter who wants to take over the country and the authority instead of a ceasefire should not be a party to the negotiating table, and he should not be addressed."
Supporting the legitimate government
In a related context, Gawishoglu made it clear that it is possible to expand the scope of security cooperation between Turkey and the Libyan government in the coming stage.
He stressed that Turkey will continue to provide all forms of support to the legitimate government in Libya.
"In the past, we had a military cooperation agreement, and we had a memorandum of understanding, and we have updated one of them, signed it again, and on the same day we signed the agreement to define maritime jurisdiction."
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj signed last November two memoranda of understanding, the first related to delineating maritime jurisdiction areas, with the aim of protecting the rights of the two countries deriving from international law, and the second related to security and military cooperation.
It is noteworthy that the internationally recognized Libyan Al-Wefaq government, backed by Turkey, recently achieved field victories over the forces of Haftar, who is receiving support from Egypt, the Emirates, and Russia.
Discord and division
The Turkish Foreign Minister said that the Abu Dhabi regime is trying to stir discord in some African countries and divide Yemen.
He stressed that Turkey opposes this issue completely, saying that the Emirati approach increases the problems and temptations in Libya.
He added that if the territorial integrity of Libya is affected, all the countries surrounding it will be affected negatively, whether it is Egypt, Tunisia or other countries.
Jawishoglu considered France's role in Libya to be negative and inconsistent with NATO decisions.