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Turkey: Holding Elections Most Important Way Ensure Libya’s Unity

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. (Reuters)
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. (Reuters)
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Turkey: Holding Elections Most Important Way Ensure Libya’s Unity

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. (Reuters)
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. (Reuters)

Turkey described on Friday the situation in Libya as "very critical", saying that holding elections is one of the most important ways to guarantee its unity.

At the same time, it demanded that discussions about the legitimacy of its Government of National Unity (GNU) be dropped until the elections are held.

Ankara expressed its ongoing support to the GNU, headed by Abdulhamid Dbeibah.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu remarked that the West had set a date to hold the elections as soon as possible, but the Libyans said that the conditions in the country were not yet suitable to stage them. As a result, the polls were postponed.

The elections were supposed to be held on December 24, but political disagreements led to their postponement.

Meanwhile, Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin told the Anadolu Agency on Friday that his country has supported the political process in Libya from the very beginning to the end, and that Ankara will continue to support it from now on.

“Elections were one of the steps and stages of this political process. We made the necessary suggestions for it to be held, but the Libyans decided to postpone the elections with an agreement among themselves since the conditions were not suitable there,” he said.

Kalin said the Maritime Boundary Treaty and the Military Cooperation and Training Agreement signed between Ankara and Tripoli in 2019 remain valid.

“Even if there are objections from some groups in Libya or some countries in the region, Libyans have a very clear and unequivocal stance on this issue,” he stressed.

The spokesperson noted that his country will continue to stand by the Libyan people and the legitimate government, both in terms of security, supporting the political process, and rebuilding Libya, and strengthening its infrastructure.

He said there is an ongoing political negotiation process among the Libyans on how long the elections will be postponed and who will manage this process.

“We hope that this new political process is announced to everyone with a new date and a transparent roadmap as soon as possible without causing any tension or conflict,” Kalin stressed, adding that Ankara will continue to stand by the Libyans as a supportive and facilitating actor in the process led by the Libyans, whenever they will be held, and in whatever way, they will be planned.

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Cash Crunch Leaves Syrians Queueing for Hours to Collect Salaries

Syrian civil servants must queue at one of two state banks or affiliated ATMs, and withdrawals are capped. LOUAI BESHARA / AFP
Syrian civil servants must queue at one of two state banks or affiliated ATMs, and withdrawals are capped. LOUAI BESHARA / AFP
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Cash Crunch Leaves Syrians Queueing for Hours to Collect Salaries

Syrian civil servants must queue at one of two state banks or affiliated ATMs, and withdrawals are capped. LOUAI BESHARA / AFP
Syrian civil servants must queue at one of two state banks or affiliated ATMs, and withdrawals are capped. LOUAI BESHARA / AFP

Seated on the pavement outside a bank in central Damascus, Abu Fares's face is worn with exhaustion as he waits to collect a small portion of his pension.
"I've been here for four hours and I haven't so much as touched my pension," said the 77-year-old, who did not wish to give his full name.

"The cash dispensers are under-stocked and the queues are long," he continued.

Since the overthrow of president Bashar al-Assad last December, Syria has been struggling to emerge from the wake of nearly 14 years of civil war, and its banking sector is no exception.

Decades of punishing sanctions imposed on the Assad dynasty -- which the new authorities are seeking to have lifted -- have left about 90 percent of Syrians under the poverty line, according to the United Nations.

The liquidity crisis has forced authorities to drastically limit cash withdrawals, leaving much of the population struggling to make ends meet.

Prior to his ousting, Assad's key ally Russia held a monopoly on printing banknotes. The new authorities have only announced once that they have received a shipment of banknotes from Moscow since Assad's overthrow.
In a country with about 1.25 million public sector employees, civil servants must queue at one of two state banks or affiliated ATMs to make withdrawals, capped at about 200,000 Syrian pounds, the equivalent on the black market of $20 per day.

In some cases, they have to take a day off just to wait for the cash.

"There are sick people, elderly... we can't continue like this," said Abu Fares.

'Meagre sums'
"There is a clear lack of cash, and for that reason we deactivate the ATMs at the end of the workday," an employee at a private bank told AFP, preferring not to give her name.

A haphazard queue of about 300 people stretches outside the Commercial Bank of Syria. Some are sitting on the ground.

Afraa Jumaa, a civil servant, said she spends most of the money she withdraws on the travel fare to get to and from the bank.

"The conditions are difficult and we need to withdraw our salaries as quickly as possible," said the 43-year-old.
"It's not acceptable that we have to spend days to withdraw meagre sums."

The local currency has plunged in value since the civil war erupted in 2011, prior to which the dollar was valued at 50 pounds.

Economist Georges Khouzam explained that foreign exchange vendors -- whose work was outlawed under Assad -- "deliberately reduced cash flows in Syrian pounds to provoke rapid fluctuations in the market and turn a profit".

Muntaha Abbas, a 37-year-old civil servant, had to return three times to withdraw her entire salary of 500,000 pounds.

"There are a lot of ATMs in Damascus, but very few of them work," she said.

After a five-hour wait, she was finally able to withdraw 200,000 pounds.

"Queues and more queues... our lives have become a series of queues," she lamented.