Erdogan sends weapons to Tripoli to threaten Libya and support terrorism

Aya Ezz

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday, February 19 threatened to launch more attacks on Libya after the Libyan National Army (LNA) succeeded in striking a Turkish plane loaded with weapons in the port of Tripoli.

LNA spokesman Maj. Gen. Ahmed Al-Mismari responded by saying that while the LNA seeks all initiatives to resolve the crisis peacefully, Erdogan is seeking to escalate the situation very dramatically.

Mismari added during a press conference in Benghazi that Erdogan has been making official statements regarding Libya as if he was the president of Tripoli, noting that the Turkish president began threatening to strike Libyans, the capital, and other regions, which is contrary to everything agreed upon in the Berlin and Moscow summits.

Dangerous weapons

Erdogan deliberately sends weapons to Libya to cause tension in the region, which terrorists and mercenaries use to seize conflict areas and kill innocent Libyans.

Among the most prominent weapons and military equipment that Turkey sent to Libya are the following:

– Vuran: a four-wheel tactical armored vehicle, designed and manufactured by the Turkish company BMC, was first unveiled in May 2015 during the Defense Industries Exhibition.

– Kirpi: a mine-resistant armored vehicle manufactured by BMC. It was adapted from an Israeli Carmour armored vehicle. The vehicle weighs 16 tons, has a top speed of 60 km per hour, and a range of 1,000 km.

– Stinger: an infrared surface-to-air missile that can be carried over the shoulder to target helicopters, fighters, cruise missiles and drones.

– Ekol: a Turkish-made pistol produced by the company Ekol Voltran in Istanbul, which Ankara smuggled to the armed militias in Tripoli.

– MG-M1: a Bulgarian automatic machine gun, which can be used to hit various ground and air targets. It is equipped with an ammunition belt ranging between 100 and 200 7.62-mm rounds and can fire 650 rounds per minute. The effective range is 1,000 meters, with a maximum range of 3,800 meters.

Laser weapons

The defense and security news site Army Recognition confirmed recently that Turkey has made a qualitative leap in the battle in Libya after providing the GNA with laser-guided weapons.

The website quoted expert Alexander Timokhin, who said that Turkey sent these advanced technologies to stop the progress of Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar’s LNA in the battles with the GNA.

Turkey, working with the state Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK), developed experimental lasers up to 50 kW and started using them successfully by 2015, Timokhin said, adding that Turkey spent $450 million on the program that year alone.

European indignation

There have been new waves of discontent among Europeans because of the arms shipments that Turkey sends to Libya every day in support of the GNA’s terrorist militias. A Turkish plane carrying an arms shipment in the port of Tripoli was bombed by the LNA.

Hence, EU foreign ministers agreed to launch a maritime monitoring committee to monitor and implement the arms embargo in Libya.