Turkey reiterates its support for Libya’s Government of National Accord

A spokesman for the Turkish presidency has stressed the need for a sustainable truce in Libya, Anadolu Agency has reported.

Ibrahim Kalin said yesterday that Turkey supports the position of the internationally-recognised Government of National Accord, which insists on the need for the forces of Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar to withdraw from Sirte and Al-Jafra for a ceasefire to succeed.

He pointed out that this is possible if the parties return to the political agreement signed in Morocco in 2015. “This is the position of the Libyan government and we support it.”

Kalin made his comments during an online seminar organised by Germany’s Konrad Adenauer Foundation. Turkey is striving to achieve peace and stability in Libya, he insisted, and will stay there as long as the GNA wants it to be there.

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Criticising Haftar, the Turkish official added that, “He was unreliable from the outset, and he undermined all truce agreements and tension-reduction initiatives. Hence, the Libyan government will not support any negotiations in which Haftar is a part. Turkey supports that position too.”

He was also critical of France. “We support a legitimate government in Libya, while the French government supports an illegal warlord, and endangers the security of NATO, the Mediterranean, North Africa and political stability in Libya. While all these facts are clear to us, the French are still pointing fingers at us and criticising us.”

Turkey accuses the UAE of financing the war in Libya. According to Kalin, Abu Dhabi’s attack on the government in Ankara and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for Turkey’s role in the Arab and Islamic worlds, was “foolish”.

Kalin explained that Ankara is still optimistic that January’s Berlin conference on Libya will lead to something positive. “The ceasefire that resulted from that conference was violated many times by the warlord Haftar, and yet countries such as Russia, the UAE and France are still supporting him. Everyone knows that Turkey has brought relative stability to Libya and that we want to end the conflict.”

NATO, the Turkish official concluded, has to play a “unified role” in Libya. He noted that US policy on Libya is “volatile”, and nobody wants to see the Syrian scenario happening in the North African country.

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