By Denis Korkodinov
The agreement between Libya and Turkey, including the military cooperation, has particularly relevance having as result the sending of Turkish special forces to protect the Government of the National Accord. Thus, Ankara was able to circumvent the international ban on the supply of weapons to Tripoli. Formally, Turkey will now supply weapons to Libya to support its force grouping.
Recep Erdogan announced his readiness to send units of the Turkish army to Libya on December 10, 2019. The reason for this was, allegedly, the official appeal of the government of Fayez al-Sarraj for military assistance, similar to the way Syrian President Bashar Assad did this, turning to Russia for help. This allows the Turkish leader to get almost complete freedom of action in the territory controlled by the Government of the National Accord of Libya.
In addition, Ankara is ready in the near future to begin a military operation in Libya against the forces of Khalifa Haftar, for which she has already organized a route for military personnel who had previously taken part in Operation Source of Peace in northeastern Syria, in the vicinity of Tripoli and Misrata.
The maritime agreement guarantees Turkey not only the ability to conduct geological exploration off the coast of Libya with an explicit reading of the anxiety from Greece, but also to deliver troops by sea. In turn, the organization of such routes, as a rule, involves strengthening the defense capability of the coastline, which creates significant advantages for the Al-Vefak government over the forces of the Libyan National Army.
The agreement between Ankara and Tripoli was preceded by the official statement of the Special Representative of the Libyan Foreign Ministry, Muhammad al-Qiblawi, made in early December 2019 that the goal of strengthening Turkish-Libyan relations is primarily a military alliance, which is necessary to counter the forces of Khalifa Haftar.
After that, a final meeting was held in Istanbul between Fayez al-Sarraj and Recep Erdogan. During this meeting, held on December 15, 2019, the leaders of the two countries officially confirmed their plans for economic and military cooperation. At the same time, Recep Erdogan unequivocally emphasized that he would send a limited contingent of troops to Libya if Tripoli asked him accordingly.
It is worth noting that, according to secret additional protocols to the agreement between Libya and Turkey, Fayez al-Sarraj, representing the Government of the National Consent, gave his consent to the entry of Turkish troops into the country. And the Turkish armed forces went to Tripoli the day after the signing of the agreement.
(The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of World Geostrategic Insights)