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Turkey Planning on Remaining in Libya through 2 Military Bases

Vehicles of forces loyal to the GNA are seen outside a checkpoint at al-Watiya airbase southwest of the capital, Tripoli, on May 18, 2020. (Getty Images)
Vehicles of forces loyal to the GNA are seen outside a checkpoint at al-Watiya airbase southwest of the capital, Tripoli, on May 18, 2020. (Getty Images)
    Ankara, Cairo – Saeed Abdulrazek and Jamal Jawhar
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Turkey Planning on Remaining in Libya through 2 Military Bases

Vehicles of forces loyal to the GNA are seen outside a checkpoint at al-Watiya airbase southwest of the capital, Tripoli, on May 18, 2020. (Getty Images)
Vehicles of forces loyal to the GNA are seen outside a checkpoint at al-Watiya airbase southwest of the capital, Tripoli, on May 18, 2020. (Getty Images)

Turkey is continuing its contacts with various effective players in Libya, leading with Russia, amid reports that it was planning on setting up permanent military bases in the North African country.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu are expected in Istanbul on Sunday for talks with their Turkish counterparts on Libya and Syria.

Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar had held a telephone call with NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg on Libya, while President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had received in Istanbul on Friday head of the Libya’s High Council of State Khalid al-Mishri.

Discussions focused on bilateral relations and the need to boost cooperation in all fields. Turkey said it was ready to help Libya build its economy and achieve stability and development.

Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said contacts are ongoing over reaching a political solution in Libya based on United Nations resolutions and this year’s Berlin conference.

Meanwhile, Turkey’s Yeni Safak daily, which is close to Erdogan, reported that Ankara is planning on setting up permanent military bases in Libya’s al-Watiya airbase and at its Misrata port.

It cited “provocations” from Greece in the eastern Mediterranean, which is raising tensions there and demands the presence of Turkish naval forces in Libyan regional waters.

It cited “regional sources” as saying that military cooperation between Libya and Turkey will rise to “higher” levels after the visit paid to Ankara last week by Libyan Government of National Accord chief Fayez al-Sarraj, who held talks with Erdogan.

Kalin on Friday said Ankara is in favor of a political solution in Libya, reported Yeni Safak.

He said Turkey will not undermine any call for ceasefire but it is important to see where this call is coming from and what is the motive.

Cairo had recently declared an initiative aimed at reaching a ceasefire in the conflict, resuming political talks and electing a leadership council.

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Berri to Asharq Al-Awsat: Resolution 1701 Only Tangible Proposal to End Lebanon Conflict

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)
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Berri to Asharq Al-Awsat: Resolution 1701 Only Tangible Proposal to End Lebanon Conflict

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)

Politicians in Beirut said they have not received any credible information about Washington resuming its mediation efforts towards reaching a ceasefire in Lebanon despite reports to the contrary.

Efforts came to a halt after US envoy Amos Hochstein’s last visit to Beirut three weeks ago.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri dismissed the reports as media fodder, saying nothing official has been received.

Lebanon is awaiting tangible proposals on which it can build its position, he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

The only credible proposal on the table is United Nations Security Council resolution 1701, whose articles must be implemented in full by Lebanon and Israel, “not just Lebanon alone,” he stressed.

Resolution 1701 was issued to end the 2006 July war between Hezbollah and Israel and calls for removing all weapons from southern Lebanon and that the only armed presence there be restricted to the army and UN peacekeepers.

Western diplomatic sources in Beirut told Asharq Al-Awsat that Berri opposes one of the most important articles of the proposed solution to end the current conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.

He is opposed to the German and British participation in the proposed mechanism to monitor the implementation of resolution 1701. The other participants are the United States and France.

Other sources said Berri is opposed to the mechanism itself since one is already available and it is embodied in the UN peacekeepers, whom the US and France can join.

The sources revealed that the solution to the conflict has a foreign and internal aspect. The foreign one includes Israel, the US and Russia and seeks guarantees that would prevent Hezbollah from rearming itself. The second covers Lebanese guarantees on the implementation of resolution 1701.

Berri refused to comment on the media reports, but told Asharq Al-Awsat that this was the first time that discussions are being held about guarantees.

He added that “Israel is now in crisis because it has failed to achieve its military objectives, so it has resorted to more killing and destruction undeterred.”

He highlighted the “steadfastness of the UN peacekeepers in the South who have refused to leave their positions despite the repeated Israeli attacks.”