Libya formally requests Turkish military support

Duvar English / Reuters

Libya’s internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) has formally requested Turkey's military support, said Fahrettin Altun, the Turkish presidency's communications director.

"Libya's government has requested Turkey's military support. As President [Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan said, we will of course honor our agreement. We are fully committed to protecting our mutual interests and establishing stability in the Mediterranean," Altun tweeted on Dec. 27.

"As we support the Libyan government, we do not want Libya to be a war zone. Those regional forces working to reestablish repressive regimes unaccountable to people are active in Libya. Their efforts to install client governments will not succeed," Altun further wrote.

A day earlier, an anonymous Tripoli official was quoted as saying by Reuters that the GNA had made its formal request to Turkey for “air, ground and sea” military support to fend off an offensive of eastern forces to take the capital Tripoli.

Separately, on Dec. 26, The Tripoli-based interior minister Fathi Bashagha had told reporters in Tunis that his government would submit an official request to Turkey if the war over the capital was to escalate.

"If the situation escalates and then we have the right to defend Tripoli and its residents ... we will submit an official request to the Turkish government to support us militarily so we expel the ghost of mercenary forces," Bashagha had said.

Earlier in the day, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Turkey will send troops to Libya at the request of Tripoli as soon as next month, putting the North African country's conflict at the center of wider regional frictions.

The GNA has been struggling to fend off General Khalifa Haftar's forces from eastern Libya, which have been supported by Russia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Jordan.

Haftar's forces were not immediately available for comment.

They have failed to reach the centre of Tripoli but have made small gains in recent weeks in some southern suburbs of the capital with the help of Russian and Sudanese fighters, as well as drones shipped by the UAE, diplomats say.

The Chinese-made drones have given Haftar "local air superiority" as they can carry over eight times the weight of explosives than the drones given to the GNA by Turkey and can also cover the whole of Libya, a U.N. report said in November.

'As soon as parliament opens'

Last month, Ankara signed two separate accords with the GNA, led by Fayez al-Serraj, one on security and military cooperation and another on maritime boundaries in the eastern Mediterranean.

The maritime deal ends Turkey's isolation in the East Mediterranean as it ramps up offshore energy exploration that has alarmed Greece and some other neighbors. The military deal would preserve its lone ally in the region, Tripoli.

"Since there is an invitation [from Libya] right now, we will accept it," Erdoğan told members of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in a speech on Dec. 26.

"We will put the bill on sending troops to Libya on the agenda as soon as parliament opens."

The legislation would pass around Jan. 8-9, 2020 he said, opening the door to deployment.

Row between Turkey, Russia

For weeks Ankara has flagged the possibility of a military mission in Libya, which would further stretch its armed forces less than three months after it launched an incursion into northeastern Syria against the People's Protection Units (YPG).

Turkey has already sent military supplies to the GNA despite a United Nations arms embargo, according to a U.N. report seen by Reuters last month.

Erdoğan visited Tunisia on Dec. 25 to discuss cooperation for a possible ceasefire in neighboring Libya. On Dec. 26, he said Turkey and Tunisia had agreed to support the GNA.

Moscow has voiced concerns over a possible Turkish military deployment to Libya in support of the GNA. Erdoğan has said Turkey will not stay silent over mercenaries from the Kremlin-linked Wagner group supporting Haftar.

"Russia is there with 2,000 Wagner [fighters]," Erdoğan said on Dec. 26, also referring to some 5,000 fighters from Sudan in Libya. "Is the official government inviting them? No."

"They are all helping a war baron [Haftar], whereas we are accepting an invitation from the legitimate government of the country. That is our difference," he said.

Haftar's Libyan National Army has been trying since April to take Tripoli from the GNA, which was set up in 2016 following a U.N.-brokered deal. The UAE, Egypt and Jordan have for years provided military support for Haftar's forces, U.N. reports have said. None of the countries has confirmed this.

Turkish and Russian officials held talks in Moscow this week to seek a compromise on the issues of both Libya and Syria, where Russia backs President Bashar al-Assad.

In the Mediterranean, Turkey is at loggerheads with Greece, Cyprus, Egypt and Israel over rights to resources off the coast of the divided island of Cyprus. Athens says Ankara's maritime deal with Tripoli violates international law.