Amidst the media build up and the escalation in official statements,
observers say the truth is contrary to what is being promoted by the
media, and a war will not take place between Turkey and Egypt in Libya.
Journalists loyal to the Egyptian regime are promoting that Turkish
interference in Libya threatens Egyptian security and that if Turkey
sends soldiers to Libya, Egypt will intervene.
Turkey supports the Libyan National Accord government that controls
the Libyan capital, Tripoli (West), while Egypt supports the forces of
Major General Khalifa Haftar, which considers Benghazi (East) the
largest city in his control.
The Turkish presidency sent a message to Egypt after Ankara sent its
military forces to Libya to support the Tripoli-based Government of
National Accord (GNA) against the militia of the Libyan National Army
(LNA).
Yassin Aktay, adviser to the Turkish president, said in a series of tweets
on Tuesday, “Whoever says that Turkey wants war against Egypt or
against any country… Turkey defends the legitimate government in
Libya while others support the rebels and the coups.”
He continued: “Turkey will not go to war against any Muslim nation, so
how do they say that we will fight the people of Egypt… we were present
in Libya at the request of the legitimate government and not to confront
any other Arab or foreign armies… we seek to stop the war and others
seek to ignite it.”
On Monday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoglu said that
Turkey would send military experts and technical teams to support the
internationally recognised government in Libya. “The government, led
by the president, will decide how and when this will happen,” he added.
Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, “Turkish
military units have begun to move to Libya to support the Government
of National Accord,” noting that the “Libyan National Accord Prime
Minister Fayez al-Sarraj asked for support from Turkey last month
while his government was responding to an attack by the supported
Haftar forces from Russia, Egypt, and the UAE.”
On the other hand, Egyptian officials seem happy with the Turkish-
Libyan agreement.
Statements from Turkish officials show that what is happening behind
the scenes is different from what is declared, especially with regard to
the maritime agreement.
Turkish presidential spokesman İbrahim Kalın said that he received
information from various sources, from official and unofficial channels,
saying that Egypt was “very happy” with that agreement.
The Turkish spokesman said in statements carried by the Anatolian
Agency that Egyptian officials are happy because the agreement
expanded their maritime jurisdiction, in reference to the return of a
large part of the maritime borders that Egypt had previously lost as a
result of signing the maritime border demarcation agreement with
Greece and Cyprus.
A leaked document from the Egyptian Foreign Ministry revealed that it
was recommended not to sign this agreement with Greece, because it
harms Egypt’s interests, deducts a large area of its maritime borders and
prevents it from signing a future agreement with Turkey.
On the military side, Egyptian generals seem bored with the repeated
failure of Haftar’s militia, and if they have guarantees that the militia
loyal to the accord government will not cooperate with Egyptian
dissidents, they may stop helping Haftar.
According to these views, this means both Turkey and Egypt are not
seeking war.
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