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While Turkey took a new step to extend the presence of its forces present in Libya from the beginning of 2020 for another two years, the Speaker of the Libyan House of Representatives, Aguila Saleh, renewed her categorical rejection of the creation of military bases in Libya, and considers the use of experts to train the Libyan army “a possible issue for all countries, and has nothing to do with it”.

He announced his imminent visit to Turkey, his second after last year, during which he will meet the president of the Turkish parliament, Numan Kurtulmuş, and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the next two weeks.

The Turkish presidency announced the referral of a memorandum to the presidency of the Parliament, signed by the Turkish president, requesting an extension of the missions of the Turkish forces in Libya for a further 24 months.

According to the Turkish presidency, on the night between Friday and Saturday, the memorandum clarified that the objective of sending Turkish forces to Libya was “to protect national interests within the framework of international law, and to take all necessary precautions against risks security, who come from illegal armed groups in Libya.”

The memorandum adds that these forces also aim to maintain security against other potential dangers, such as waves of mass migration, to provide the humanitarian aid the Libyan people need and to provide necessary support to the “legitimate government” in Libya.

Turkey sent its forces to western Libya in accordance with Article 92 of the Constitution, as stated in the memorandum dated January 2, 2020, and its tasks were extended on June 21, 2021 for a period of 18 months.

The Turkish presidential memorandum calls on Parliament to ratify the extension of the missions of Turkish forces in Libya for a period of 24 months, starting from January 2, 2024.

Turkey has sent forces to western Libya, along with thousands of mercenaries from members of the Syrian armed factions loyal to it, on the basis of a memorandum of understanding for military cooperation, which Erdogan signed with the former head of the Libyan government of national agreement, Fayez al -Sarraj, in Istanbul on 27 November 2019.

The memorandum of understanding, which has not yet been recognized by the Libyan House of Representatives, continued to be implemented and its scope was expanded under the government of national unity, led by Abdul Hamid Al-Dabaiba, which is currently working temporarily .

In this context, Turkey has established a joint military command in Tripoli, has taken control of land, sea and air bases in western Libya and is training Libyan soldiers in its own country or in western Libya, while confirming that it has no ambition to control the Libyan lands, but rather is working to train elements to form the core of a unified Libyan army.

In parallel, Saleh renewed his categorical refusal to establish military bases in Libya, while at the same time he expressed no objection to using experts to train the Libyan army. Saleh stressed in an interview with Russian media yesterday (Friday) that “relations with Turkey have begun to improve, and Turkish relations with neighboring and brother Egypt have improved”, stating that he had already visited Turkey and had met with the Speaker of the Parliament, as well as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Saleh added, explaining: “Now I have an invitation from the Turkish parliament to visit Ankara, the date of which has not been set yet, but there is a possibility that I will make the visit and will meet with the Turkish president in the next two weeks by the end of this year.”

Saleh visited Turkey in August last year, after more than a decade of estrangement between eastern Libya and Ankara, which worsened with the House of Representatives’ rejection of the military and naval memorandums of understanding signed by Erdogan and Sarraj on 27 November 2019. and the resulting broad Turkish military support for the West. Libya confronts the Libyan army led by Khalifa Haftar.

After the meeting between Saleh and Erdogan in the presidential palace in Ankara, the vice-president of the Libyan Presidential Council, Abdullah Al-Lafi, who participated in the meeting, said: “The agreed views on the preservation of the unity of the Libyan territory and the ‘acceleration of the conduct of the electoral process through the necessary legislation, agreed by the government”. A strong solution, which underlines the exclusion of a military solution and stops any form of escalation that hinders the construction of a democratic civil state”.

Saleh’s visit to Ankara was preceded by mutual opening steps between the two sides, as a delegation from the Libyan House of Representatives visited Turkey in December 2021, led by the First Deputy Speaker of the House, Fawzi Al-Nuwairi, and then by Turkish President Ambassador to Tripoli Kanaan Yilmaz visited Benghazi in January 2022. The issue of opening the Turkish consulate in Benghazi and resuming Turkish Airlines flights was discussed.