Menfi in Turkey for Talks on Mercenary Pullout from Libya

Arab World

March 27th, 7:14am

Ankara, Cairo - Saeed Abdulrazek and Khaled Mahmoud

Head of the Libyan Presidential Council Mohammed al-Menfi (left) and his deputy Abdullah al-Lafi (right) meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul on Friday. (Reuters)

New head of the Libyan Presidential Council Mohammed al-Menfi and his deputy Abdullah al-Lafi held talks in Istanbul on Friday with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The meeting focused on the developments in the North African country and cooperation with Ankara. Turkish presidency sources said the discussions, which were attended by president spokesman Ibrahim Kalin and Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, tackled means to develop Libyan-Turkish relations on all levels. Menfi was invited to Turkey by Erdogan. It is his first to the country since assuming his position at the helm of the Presidential Council, which will run the country until elections are held in December. Informed sources said Menfi and Erdogan discussed the new Libyan administration’s commitment to understandings and agreements that were struck by the Government of National Accord, which was headed by Fayez al-Sarraj. Erdogan expressed his support for the new Government of National Unity (GNU) as it seeks to achieve stability in Libya. Turkey has yielded to international pressure and started to pull out this week Syrian mercenaries it had brought to Libya to prop up the GNA during its battle against the Libyan National Army in 2019. Ankara has so far withdrawn some 120 Syrians and more will follow. Prior to traveling to Istanbul, Menfi had visited Cairo on Thursday where he held talks with President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, who underscored Egypt’s complete support to the new interim Libyan authority. In a telephone call with Asharq Al-Awsat, one of Menfi’s aides revealed that his trip to Turkey was aimed at resolving the mercenaries file, especially pro-Turkish Syrian fighters. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the aide said Menfi was seeking to ride the wave of international and regional support and demands for ending foreign presence in Libya “as soon as possible”. The withdrawal should set the right conditions on the ground to hold presidential and parliamentary elections in December, he added.

from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2884466/menfi-turkey-talks-mercenary-pullout-libya