Turkey's military deployment in Libya gets parliament nod

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Turkey's military deployment in Libya gets parliament nod

The plan was opposed by all important opposition parties, including the Republican Peoples’ Party (CHP)

Thursday January 2, 2020 10:25 PM, ummid.com with inputs from Agencies

Ankara: The Turkish Parliament Thursday gave its nod to military deployment in Libya to support the embattled the Government of National Accord (GNA) which is recognised by the United Nations.

Turkish Parliamentarians approved the motion, which grants a one-year mandate for the troop deployment, in an emergency session on Thursday. The motion passed by 325 votes to 184.

The plan was opposed by all important opposition parties, including the Republican Peoples’ Party (CHP), which said sending troops could aggravate the situation and embroil Ankara in another conflict. The CHP said Monday that it didn't want to see a situation similar to the crisis in Syria "unfold in yet another country."

Turkey had earlier said it was fully prepared to deploy its armed forces in Libya as required, the country's Defence Ministry has announced.

"The Turkish soldiers are ready to serve their duties in and outside Turkey," the Ministry's Spokeswoman Nadide Sebnem Aktop was quoted as saying by semi-official Anadolu Agency on Friday.

A day earlier, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had said that Turkey would militarily support the Libyan UN-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) upon the latter's request, in order to fight Libya's east-based army led by Khalifa Haftar.

On November 27, Ankara and the Tripoli-based GNA signed two separate agreements, one on military cooperation and the other on maritime boundaries of the two countries in the Eastern Mediterranean.

The military intervention by Turkey in Libya however has recieved opposition, especially from Italy and Egypt. Luigi Di Maio and Sameh Shoukry, the foreign ministers of the two countries, agreed in a phone call on the need to step up efforts to ensure Libya's security and stability and rejected any foreign military intervention, according to a statement from Egypt's foreign ministry.

Foreign military intervention "would place obstacles in the path of an inclusive political accord to resolve all aspects of the Libyan crisis," the statement said.

Since the ouster of the former leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Libya has been politically divided between two powers, one in eastern Libya and the GNA in the capital Tripoli.

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