After the Egyptian parliament agreed that the army would undertake "combat missions" outside the border, in the context of a possible military intervention in Libya, attention turned to Turkey, which has a military cooperation agreement with the internationally recognized Libyan government in Tripoli, where Turkish sources confirmed that Ankara would take steps to counter any interference A possible Egyptian in Libya.
On the Turkish reaction to the decision of the Egyptian parliament, and the extent of his serious consideration of military intervention in Libya, and how the subsequent Turkish move will be in response to this interference, I met Al-Jazeera Net Yassin Akkati, advisor to the Turkish President.
Aqtai confirmed that Ankara was seriously considering authorizing the Egyptian parliament to Sisi to intervene militarily in Libya and would closely monitor all Egyptian moves inside Libyan territory.
He stressed that this mandate is not frightened by the fact that Turkey is in Libya to support stability there based on the cooperation agreements that it signed with the legitimate government of Al-Wefaq, and that the Egyptian parliament does not represent the truth of the Egyptian people.
Countries push Sisi into the war and
said, "We have information that the Egyptian army refuses to fight any battles against the Turkish army or against the legitimate Libyan army, although the UAE, France and Israel are pushing Sisi with full force toward fighting a war against Turkey in order to weaken the Turkish and Egyptian armies."
The adviser to the Turkish President called on the Egyptian people not to view Turkey as a threat to Egypt, pointing out that the real threat to Egypt comes from eastern and southern Libya, not from its west.
Regarding the subsequent Turkish move for any possible Egyptian military intervention in Libya, Aqtai stressed that Turkey would not back down from its commitments in Leba and the joint defense agreement it signed with Tripoli, noting that they have their field and political plans to face any threat.
On what is going on behind the scenes between Cairo and Ankara in light of Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoglu’s statement last week about the occurrence of expert meetings between Turkey and Egypt regarding the Turkish-Libyan agreement, Qotai stressed that “Egypt is a large and central country and there is no problem in our communication with it away from Sisi. ".
Qotai noted that the meetings at the expert level are also relevant to preventing any field skirmishes between the two countries in Libya.
Steps of escalation
While the past few days have witnessed a mutual escalation between Cairo and Ankara on the Libyan issue, speculation is increasing that an imminent battle is approaching around the Libyan Sirte and Al-Jafra regions that are still under the control of the forces of retired Major General Khalifa Hifter.
While there are reports of the Libyan National Accord government mobilizing its fighters around Sirte in preparation for a decisive battle to regain control of Haftar's forces, other reports indicate continuous preparations among Haftar's forces, in light of talk of military supplies to him and Russian aircraft that landed in Sirte during the past days.
Last week, the parliament in Tobruk, eastern Libya, in support of Haftar, authorized Egypt's military intervention.
Last Thursday, Sisi met in Cairo with Libyan tribal leaders, and said that Egypt "will not stand idle in the face of any moves that pose a strong and direct threat to national security."
Continuing to support the legitimate government
In statements to reporters on Friday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticized the Egyptian role, pledging to continue supporting the government in Tripoli, saying, "We will continue to bear the responsibility we have assumed in Libya as we have done until today."
When Erdogan was asked about the possibility of Cairo's interference, he said, "The steps taken by Egypt show that it stands beside the revolutionary successor, Khalifa Haftar, and its involvement in an illegal path."
Al-Sisi said last month that the Egyptian army would enter Libya if the Tripoli government and its allies repeated their attacks on the Sirte-Jafra axis, which is a gateway to the oil export ports controlled by Haftar's forces and its allies.
Military and strategic experts assert that the Sirte battle, if it occurs, will not be just a battle between both the forces of the Libyan government in Al-Wefaq in Tripoli on the one hand, and the forces of retired Major General Haftar on the other hand, but it may develop into a military confrontation between Cairo and Ankara.
Cairo sees the situation in Libya as a threat to its national security, and has confirmed by Sisi that both Sirte and the Libyan bridge are a red line for Egypt, but Turkey believes that it supports the legitimate Libyan government and helps it extend its control over the entire Libyan soil, and considers that Sisi supports one Illegal from the point of view of the international community in Libya.