Turkish government sending Libya deployment bill to parliament despite opposition’s rejection

The Turkish government is sending to parliament a bill mandating troop deployment to Libya despite the opposition’s rejection, three days after Ankara announced the Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) had officially requested military support from Turkey.

According to Press TV, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu announced the news during a press conference on Monday, following a closed-door meeting with opposition leaders to rally support for the legislation.

Unal Cevikoz, Deputy Chairman of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), said the group opposed such a motion, which will be discussed in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey as soon as it opens in January after recess.

“We believe diplomacy should be prioritized, rather than being a party to a proxy war. What is being done is making preparations to worsen the current situation, and we conveyed to the minister that this is not right,” Cevikoz said.

“Sending troops there in this case will expand the effects of the conflicts in the region and cause them to spread... We view the bill negatively.”

Since 2014, Libya has been divided between two rival camps: one based in the eastern city of Tobruk, and the other, the internationally-recognized government of Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj, known as the GNA, in the capital Tripoli.

A renegade general, Khalifa Haftar, is the self-proclaimed commander of an array of militia groups, collectively known as the so-called Libyan National Army (LNA), and is apparently supporting the eastern government.

In April, Haftar’s forces launched an offensive to capture Tripoli. Despite intense and deadly clashes between the two sides, Haftar has so far failed to achieve his objective and his offensive stalled outside the capital.

On Saturday, Haftar’s forces seized a Turkish ship, a few weeks after Faraj al-Mahdawi, the Chief of Staff of the LNA Navy, had said he had “orders” from Haftar “to sink any Turkish research vessel” that would approach the shores of Libya.

Last month, Ankara and the Tripoli government signed an expanded security and military cooperation accord, which irked the eastern government in Libya and drawn international ire.

ME