Libya begins new joint military programmes with Turkeyto form a new army
Libya and Turkey have begun to carry out a series of joint military programmes with the aim of forming a new force to act as an army, said Denfesa minister Salah Eddine al-Namrush, according to the Daily Sabah, a pro-government Turkish newspaper, on Sunday. In a statement on Facebook, al-Namrush said that they had begun to implement a restructuring of the armed forces, air defences, anti-terrorist units, special operations units and the navy. The first training will take place to the west of the capital of Tripoli, the minister assured. The programme aims to establish an army in accordance with international standards.
Libya is a nation divided into two political legitimacies since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. In the west is the United Nations-recognised Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA), and in the east is the Tobruk Parliament, backed by the Libyan National Army (LNA). The movements to form a new military force by the Tripoli Executive. Al-Namrush announced on 17 August that an agreement had been signed with the Turkish and Qatari defence ministers to provide assistance in restructuring the army in the country.
The Turkish army will provide assistance in restructuring the Libyan army into a regular force based on the model used in the training of the Azerbaijani armed forces. Turkish military advisers will play a major role in the process and will provide both logistical assistance and training in cooperation with Qatar. The Libyan army is made up of militias, tribal soldiers and clan members. The objective pursued by Qatar and Turkey is to establish a professional army. The process is similar to a military training agreement signed by Baku and Ankara in 1993 in the face of armed confrontation in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Turkish gendarmerie forces provided training and assistance to their Azerbaijani counterparts, while Azerbaijani Army personnel spent time in Turkey for training. The Turkish air force pilots also worked with the Azerbaijani pilots and the Azerbaijani Army received support from Turkish technical equipment. The NAG made an official request for support "by air, land and sea" to the Turkish army to help defend itself from an offensive of the forces loyal to Haftar, which tries to take control of the capital Tripoli. Turkey's support has been fundamental for the maintenance of the AKP. Since January, thousands of Turkish soldiers have been deployed in Libya to help Fayez Sarraj to resist an offensive on Tripoli by Marshal Khalifa Haftar.
The Turkish intervention in Libya's civil war has been very controversial. The Arab League has expressed its opposition to Turkish interference affecting Libya and the use of paid mercenaries from Syria linked to groups close to Jihadist terrorism. Turkey's defence minister, Hulusi Akar, has come to recognise that as a result of his country's intervention in Libya "the balance in the North African nation has changed significantly" in favour of the internationally recognised National Accord Government (NAG) led by Fayez Sarraj. The foreign minister of the Eurasian country has continued in the same vein, assuring that Ankara has been responsible for "changing the balance" in Libya and thus avoiding "a civil war". "The only solution in Libya is a political solution and Haftar has to understand that," he said in a television interview.
The European Union has rejected the intervention of foreign powers in the conflict and has called for an arms embargo on Libya to stop the civil conflict and has also challenged the use of mercenaries. The foreign ministers of Egypt, France, Cyprus and Greece rejected any sending of troops to Libya last January as a "threat" to regional security and have called for a political solution to the Libyan conflict. Ankara began sending a military contingent to Tripoli this week to support the UN-recognised Tripoli government led by Fayez Sarraj and to halt the advance of Marshal Haftar, the strongman of eastern Libya. Haftar is currently leading an offensive to conquer the Libyan coastal city of Sirte, considered key to the security of the city-state of Misrata and a fundamental enclave for the conquest of Tripoli and the takeover of the country. Both sides are equipped with fleets of unmanned aerial vehicles, drones, which have caused numerous civilian casualties.