ANKARA: Turkey will dispatch an official team to Russia for extensive talks on Libya ahead of the Berlin Libya Conference in January 2020.
Turkish diplomatic, security, and intelligence officers are expected to visit Moscow amid rising tensions in the East Mediterranean.
Experts caution this might signal growing differences between Ankara and Moscow, two proactive powers involved in the issue, over the North African country.
Yury Barmin, Middle East and North Africa director at the Moscow Policy Group, thinks the talks between Turkey and Russia may be a positive sign, but that discussions alone would not be enough to bridge the emerging gaps between them.
“Libya is not Syria. It is a very different and complex environment. Rules of engagement are very different, and there are so many actors that can really derail the whole peace process in Libya,” he told Arab News.
Emad Badi, a nonresident scholar at the Middle East Institute, said: “The reality is they (Turkey and Russia) can shape the contours of the military landscape surrounding Tripoli and can therefore dictate what comes next politically speaking.”
Barmin thinks that there is a need to include the US, France, Gulf countries and other relevent parties in broader discussions, and that the Berlin conference, which aims to facilitate peace in the region, could be a pathway to that.
FASTFACT
Turkish diplomatic, security, and intelligence officers are expected to visit Moscow amid rising tensions in the East Mediterranean.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently expressed readiness to send troops to Libya if requested by the country’s Government of National Accord (GNA) with whom he recently signed two controversial deals, one on security and military cooperation, and another on the delimitation of maritime borders in the East Mediterranean.
The agreement on security and military cooperation allows Turkish deployment in Libya to provide technical and military support. It also allows weapons sales to the GNA despite a UN arms embargo.
Turkey’s Parliament will vote on the deal on Saturday, while the GNA unanimously approved it on Thursday. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that no request from the GNA for assistance had been made yet.
Seth J. Frantzman, executive director of the Middle East Center for Reporting and Analysis, said Turkey wanted to work with Russia on Libya, even if the two were backing different sides, because of previous cooperation in Syria.
“Turkey’s goal is to use leverage over the Tripoli GNA government to achieve economic gains and influence. Turkey is happy to achieve a foothold and work with the Russians toward legitimizing it as a major player in Libya,” Frantzman told Arab News.
“Libya will help (Turkey) repair its image and power in North Africa, and also frustrate Egypt. Turkey doesn’t want to commit many troops — just a token presence using Turkish technology. As one of the main opponents of Egypt, Turkey will see any role as a victory,” he added.
