Turkey's Vote to Send Troops to Libya Raises Regional, International Concerns

Arab World

January 3rd, 7:42am

Asharq Al-Awsat

FILE PHOTO: Turkish lawmakers vote a bill that allows troop deployment to Libya, at the Parliament in Ankara, Turkey, January 2, 2020. REUTERS/Stringer

Turkey's parliament passed a bill on Thursday approving a military deployment to Libya raising fears against the repercussions of this decision which Ankara says aims at shoring up the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord. The beleaguered Tripoli government has been under sustained attack since April by the Libyan National Army, commanded by General Khalifa Haftar. In response, US President Donald Trump held a phone call with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan warning "that foreign interference is complicating the situation in Libya," White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said in a statement. Cyprus and Greece also denounced a "dangerous threat to regional stability," AFP reported. For its part, Egypt strongly condemned the Turkish vote, saying it amounted to a "flagrant violation of international law and Security Council resolutions on Libya." The Egyptian Foreign Ministry stressed in a statement that the MoU inked between Sarraj and Ankara is ‘null and void’. In the same context, the Arab League strongly criticized the Turkish vote through a statement issued on Thursday. The Arab League expressed its support of the political process through the full implementation of the Sukhairat Agreement as the only reference for any political settlement in Libya. In its statement, the Arab League also expressed concern about the possibility of military escalation that may aggravate the crisis in the country and threaten the security and stability of the neighboring countries and the whole region. Meanwhile, the spokesperson for the Libyan parliament, Abdullah Bleihaq, said that the parliament will hold an emergency session on Saturday in Benghazi to discuss the repercussions of the Turkish intervention in Libya. Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, Bleihaq said: "Ankara's vote is considered a colonial invasion of Libya and a breach of its sovereignty, which we will strongly confront."

from Asharq AL-awsat https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/2064406/turkeys-vote-send-troops-libya-raises-regional-international-concerns