Contradictions in Turkish pragmatic policies towards Libya

Mohamed Abdel Ghaffar

Turkey’s parliament has approved the sending of troops to Libya to support the terrorist militias in Tripoli. The move has brought back to minds what former foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu told the representatives of Justice and Development on November 24, 2010, that he had given orders to the Turkish Foreign Ministry to place have a Turkish embassy anywhere former French president Nicolas Sarkozy raises his head in Africa.

Since the eruption of Libyan protests on February 17, 2011, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has reacted pragmatically.

Erdogan has been focused on the economy in dealing with Libya. Trade between Turkey and Libya totaled $9.8 billion in 2010. A total of 160 Turkish investment projects were set up in Libya. Moreover, former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi pledged to provide Turkish companies with investments worth $100 billion by 2013.

In the early days of the February 17 protests in 2011, Erdogan took no action in supporting the Libyan demonstrations, because he had fears he might get defeated in the parliamentary elections. At that time, the Justice and Development Party expected an attack by secular opposition parties if its stance contradicted the mainstream western attitude towards Libya. Therefore, the Justice and Development preferred silence.

After the Arab League had called on the UN Security Council to impose a flight ban on Libya on March 12, 2011, Turkey opposed it.  The then Turkish prime minister Erdogan said on March 14, 2011, that NATO’s military intervention in Libya would have negative repercussions.

Later, Erdogan said that his country “stands neutral”, stating that Ankara wouldn’t want arms dealers to profiteer from the fighting among brothers.

However, Erdogan changed his stance between February and April 2011. He told the media on April 8, 2011 that Turkey has never adopted wait-and-see policy towards Libya. He announced an initiative to resolve the Libyan crisis, calling for ceasefire and providing humanitarian aid.

In 2011, Erdogan was concerned that France would boost its influence and that Gaddafi might be defeated. However, in 2020, Erdogan is worried of the growing influence of the Libyan National Army and the defeat of the Government of National Accord in Tripoli. He is also worried that the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood would lose another stronghold in the Arab world.