ADVERTISEMENT

Turkey Urges U.S. to Step Up in Libya as Strongman Loses Ground

Turkey Urges U.S. to Step Up in Libya as Strongman Loses Ground

(Bloomberg) --

The U.S. and NATO should play a more active role in Libya, Turkey’s foreign minister said, trying to build international momentum for his country’s efforts to triumph in the proxy war there.

Turkey is supporting the internationally recognized government in Tripoli against Kremlin-backed eastern strongman Khalifa Haftar, who also gets assistance from the United Arab Emirates and Egypt. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, without elaborating, that a deal with the U.S. over Libya was likely following his phone call on Monday with President Donald Trump.

The Trump administration has not objected to Erdogan’s military intervention in Libya, which if resolved to his satisfaction, would deal a setback to Russia. It has adopted a hands-off policy regarding Libya and sent mixed signals, officially supporting the government of Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj even as Trump undermined the premier with a phone call to Haftar last year.

On Thursday, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Turkey and the U.S. were sounding each other out on their respective Libya policies as the conversation between their leaders indicated a growing overlap. Turkey’s entry into the war several months ago, including the supply of armed drones to Sarraj’s forces, has turned the tide against Haftar, who had launched an offensive on the capital 14 months ago.

“The U.S. is not very active in Libya probably because of traumatic incidents,” Cavusoglu told NTV television in an interview, referring to the killing of the American ambassador in Benghazi in 2012. “Both NATO and the U.S. should play a more active role in Libya for the stability” of the country and the region, he said.

Two days after speaking with Trump, Erdogan discussed Libya with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Cavusoglu said Turkey’s tensions with Egypt have deepened since Cairo sided with Haftar, without saying whether the presence of Russian mercenaries in the ranks of Haftar forces was causing a rift in ties with Moscow as well.

Commenting on Haftar’s battlefield losses, the minister claimed that “some tribes and clans are speedily changing sides to support Sarraj.”

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.