Turkey says it will remain in Libya until there is a ceasefire
For almost a month now - after the Berlin Conference on 19 January - Ankara has been intensifying its role in Libya. Last week, four Turkish navy ships docked in the Tunisian port of La Goulette, just 10 kilometres from Tunis, and another Turkish ship was bombed by the National Liberation Army (LNA), commanded by Marshal Khalifa Haftar - the other faction in the conflict - when it was anchored in the port of Tripoli. The LNA's spokesman, Major General Ahmed Al-Mismari, said at the time that this latest operation "was intended to prevent the arrival of arms and ammunition to terrorist groups in Tripoli" and that it "was part of the army's response to the ceasefire violations announced on 12 January". If this continues, "there will not seem to be peace with these terrorists", he added.
At the moment, no one seems to be able to stop the Turkish leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Only the European Union, which until now had been inactive, is trying to regain positions vis-à-vis Ankara. The result of this was the announcement last week of the creation of a new naval mission to guarantee the arms embargo imposed on Libya since 2011, when the war broke out. The measure has been welcomed by the LNA: "We support the presence of European naval patrols to prevent Turkey from continuing to transport weapons and mercenaries to Tripoli," said the Haftar Army in a statement released Friday by Al-Ain. Erdogan criticised the EU mission, accusing it of "interfering in the region".
On the same day, the Turkish president acknowledged, for the first time, the presence of Syrian mercenaries loyal to Ankara in Libya, along with Turkish training personnel, although he did not admit that they were army soldiers, although this was already confirmed on January 29, when two Turkish warships, Gaziantep and Qediz, docked in the port of Tripoli with military and tanks on board. On the issue of the militiamen, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavasoglu has said that since the "international system" has not been able to stop the fighting in Libya and is not "determined to do so", they will remain in that country until "a truce is reached between the two sides in the war".
To achieve this, the Geneva talks are taking place, although the Prime Minister of the Government of National Unity (GNA), Fayez Sarraj, withdrew from the process, a decision fiercely criticized by his opponent, Haftar. However, the leader of the NAG and UN Secretary General António Guterres are scheduled to meet on Monday to address the Libyan crisis. Also on the agenda is a meeting of the ambassadors of the Arab League convened by Qatar for the same purpose.
The Attorney General of the Italian city of Genoa, Francesco Cozzi, informed this Friday that the authorities intercepted, last February 3rd, a ship with a Lebanese flag - called Bana- that was transporting Turkish weapons to Libya. So far, the investigation has determined that the boat left the Turkish port of Mersin, where it was loaded with tanks, air defence systems and artillery, such as machine guns, with the aim of reaching the Libyan port of Tripoli, controlled by the UN-sponsored NAG.
The officer who informed the authorities of the shipment - who has already applied for political asylum - stated that, officially, the roadmap they had planned included the Turkey-Genoa route. The stop they were going to make in the Libyan capital had been made up as necessary to "resolve mechanical problems", as revealed by Al-Ain.
Meanwhile, the captain of the ship, the Lebanese Yusef Tartousi, who was arrested by the Genoese police, has refused to give a statement for the moment. He was arrested on suspicion of "trying to influence the testimony of the crew and concealing evidence". In fact, as soon as he left the Turkish port, the ship's tracking and GPS systems were switched off.
On February 19, Tartousi admitted that the cargo ship was carrying Turkish weapons and military equipment for Sarraj's ranks, which include Syrian mercenary units supported by Turkey and financed by Qatar, the only two countries to have shown public support for the ANG.
Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Hafez warned this week that "the infiltration of terrorists into Libya, particularly from Syria, may have serious consequences in North Africa and European countries", according to the news portal The Libya Address. "Egypt has taken initiatives to combat terrorism and extremism and prevent the spread of extremist ideologies by organizations such as Daesh, Al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood," it said.
It is worth mentioning, on this issue, that as Atalayar advanced, on the one hand, members of jihadist groups are using the route of the militia from Syria to Libya in order to escape to Europe, entering through Italy. On the other hand, this flow of mercenaries, supported by Turkey, is being financed by Qatar. Meanwhile, the Muslim Brothers are contributing to the destabilisation of the North African country, destroying infrastructures and dismantling basic services, such as health services.