Dr. Jebril El-Abidi
Libyan writer and researcher
TT

Libya, Erdogan, and the Mercenaries

Deporting the “mercenaries” was the pressure card that Erdogan chose to threaten Europe’s security. He had previously threatened Europe with deporting what was left of ISIS to the continent, as part a repeated attempt to blackmail them, and he had already transferred hundreds of Syrian fighters to Tripoli in Libya to save the Brotherhood Government from inevitable collapse.

The Turkish president, unfortunately, seeks to play the role of the Mediterranean pirate through a ridiculous attempt to mess with geography when he contrived that his country shares a border with Libya. While the two countries are separated by islands, countries, and thousands of kilometers, he turned Libya into the neighboring country through the bogus map drawn by Fayez al-Sarraj- the Prime Minister of the unconstitutional Accord Government.

Recruiting mercenaries is considered a crime by the UN issued International Convention against the recruitment, use, financing and training of mercenaries, which means that Erdogan, as a recruiter, trainer, user and financer of mercenaries is subject to trial for violating international law.

Mahdi al-Harati, the Irish-Libyan former mayor of Tripoli, oversaw the training of Erdogan’s mercenaries and their transfer to Libya. His familiarity with the Syrian fighters, stemming from his fighting experience alongside them and overseeing their training, allowed him to play a central role in their recruitment.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored the transfer of the mercenaries from Syria to Libyan territory. While the registration process continues, around 2,400 mercenaries have already arrived in Tripoli after agreeing to fight there, with each terrorist receiving 2,000 dollars. 1,700 recruits have arrived at the Turkish camps for training as recruitment from al-Mu'tasim Brigade, Sultan Murad Brigade, Northern Falcons Brigade, Hamzat, Legion of Levant, Suleiman Shah, and Samarkand Brigade continues in Afrin, the Euphrates Shield, and North-Eastern Syria.

Ahmad Kermo al-Chehabi, a high ranking official in the so-called Syrian Nation Army, loyal to Turkey, admitted to recruiting and transporting mercenaries, bragging “we are ready for Jihad anywhere; we won’t stop. We are willing to sacrifice our souls and our children for the Ottoman Caliphate”.

The agreement to gulp up the gas and wealth of the Mediterranean, plunder Libya's wealth and violate its sovereignty, and transfer hundreds of mercenaries to Libya, is equivalent to throwing firewood and gasoline on a fire to ensure that it continues to burn. It could also be considered a threat to Europe's security and its interests in Libya, since the presence of fighters of different nationalities in Tripoli, which is only 300 miles away from Southern Europe, inevitably poses a threat, whether or not Europe acknowledges it.

Libya and its war is not their final destination. From them, Libya is nothing but a transit stop that Erdogan took to help his men and those loyal to him, the Brotherhood and the Government of Reconciliation after it is about to fall. The Libyan army’s victory in the battle to liberate Tripoli from the grip of militias and mercenaries is inevitable.

During the debate over solutions to the Libyan crisis, the Libyan parties refused to sit at the same table, the crisis moved from a truce and an unwritten cease-fire in Moscow to the birth of the Military Committee (5 + 5) representing both sides to dismantle the militias in Berlin.

Meanwhile Ghassan Salameh, the international envoy, says: “I do not see blue hats in Libya anytime soon,” and concerning the Syrian mercenaries brought in by the Turkish president obsessed with a second Ottoman Caliphate, Salameh also said that: “Erdogan was invited because he is threatening to send Syrians to Libya, and he had pledged not to interfere or send mercenaries. Now, after signing of the agreement, Erdogan can be held accountable. ”

The Europeans ignoring the presence of mercenaries and Erdogan’s transport of extremists should wait the arrival of hoards of these mercenaries at their doorsteps. For most of them, Libya is nothing but a transit stop on their way to Rome and then to other Western countries.

There are no political groups in Libya, nor is there a political conflict. There is only a security crisis, with the Libyan people facing the international Brotherhood organization and its terroristic figures. The organizations brought in members from all parts of the world to help them attain victory, so they rushed to it and turned Libya into a cemetery of the multinational invaders.

Erdogan's mercenaries, whose coffins have begun returning to Idlib and Gaziantep from Tripoli, have no place in Libya, as the soil of Libya sizzles and does not accept them.