Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan anticipated Thursday’s parliament session to vote on sending troops to Libya, by calling on his country’s soldiers to achieve “epics” in the African country and to draw inspiration from the battles of the “Emir of the Ottoman sailors Hayreddin Barbarossa.”
In remarks on Wednesday, Erdogan said that his country “is going to take a new step in Libya and the eastern Mediterranean.”
“We hope that our soldiers in the eastern Mediterranean will achieve heroic epics, such as those achieved by the Emir of the Ottoman sailors Hayreddin Barbarossa” (1478 - 1546), he stated.
The Turkish Parliament convened in an emergency session on Thursday to discuss and vote on a motion submitted by the government to obtain a mandate to send soldiers to Libya, at the request of the Libyan National Reconciliation government, headed by Fayez al-Sarraj, based on an agreement of understanding in military and security cooperation signed between the two sides on November 27.
The Republican People’s Party, the largest of the Turkish opposition parties, announced its refusal to send forces to Libya, explaining that it would vote against granting the government the mandate, while the Nationalist Movement Party, which was allied with the Justice and Development within the framework of the People’s Alliance, said that that its 49 deputies would vote in favor of the motion.
In the same context, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said that the Skhirat agreement in Libya “requires the support of the government of national reconciliation”, which it described as “legitimate and internationally recognized.”
Erdogan said last month that Sarraj requested the Turkish deployment, after he and Sarraj signed a military deal that allows Ankara to dispatch military experts and personnel to Libya.
Ankara says the deployment is vital for Turkey to safeguard its interests in Libya and in the eastern Mediterranean.
