Erdogan attacks the European Union for trying to block the arrival of arms in Libya

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has criticised the European Union for trying to block the arrival of arms in Libya to enforce the UN embargo. Erdogan has accused European nations of "interfering in the region". "The EU has no right to make any decisions regarding Libya," Erdogan said in a speech to his party's legislators in the Turkish parliament. "The EU has been trying to take charge of the situation and interfere", he said. 

The Turkish president also praised the decision of the UN-backed Libyan government to withdraw from talks with its rivals following Tuesday's attack on the port of Tripoli. However, the United States has called for a speedy resumption of the talks.

EU foreign ministers agreed earlier this week to end the Operation Sophia, the European naval mission to combat illegal trafficking of migrants in the Mediterranean. From now on, resources for this programme will be used to block the entry of arms in Libya. It's expected that the vessels will be withdrawn if they generate a 'pull' effect of illegal immigrants. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has said that several European countries have already offered to participate in the new operation.

The Prime Minister of the UN-recognised government of Libya, Fayez Sarraj, has asked that the arms embargo include Libya's air, land and sea borders. "Talking only about the maritime borders doesn't make sense", he told journalists on Wednesday during a visit to the port of Tripoli after the attack.
 

The institutional breakdown in which Libya has been immersed since 2011 following the overthrow of Moammar Gadhafi seems to have no end. After Gadhafi's murder, the country was divided into two territories controlled by rival governments, one in the east and one in the west, each backed by foreign countries struggling to control Libya's resources. The UN-backed government in Tripoli, headed by Fayez Sarraj, is supported by Turkey and Qatar. On the other side are Commander Khalifa Haftar's eastern forces, which are dependent on assistance from the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, as well as France and Russia. 

Haftar was in Moscow on Wednesday and met with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, the institution reported in a statement. Both sides stressed the "important role" of the talks they held in Moscow on January 13 in implementing a ceasefire and normalizing the situation in the country. The statement also reiterated the need to comply with the decisions taken during a peace summit in Berlin last month.  At the Berlin conference, the world powers agreed to respect the arms embargo, which has been violated by all sides of the conflict, and to suspend military support to the warring parties with the aim of achieving a total ceasefire. 

The UN special envoy for Libya, Ghassan Salame, has accused some countries of intensifying arms deliveries to Libya's warring parties with the hope of military victory. Fighting between the country's factions has intensified over the past year. In addition to arms, Turkey has recently sent hundreds of Syrian fighters, including militants from groups such as Al Qaeda or the Islamic State, to fight on behalf of the Tripoli-based Government. 

The Turkish leader has also expressed support for the Tripoli-based government's decision to suspend participation in the UN-negotiated talks in Geneva following the attack by Haftar's forces in the port of Tripoli.