Turkey on the road to controlling Libya’s oil wealth

Mustafa Kamel

Turkey is quickly talking about its real plans in Libya, namely controlling the Arab country’s wealth.

Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Fatih Donmez revealed that his country had submitted a request to the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) to explore minerals in Libya.

Stealing Libya’s oil

This comes a short time after Libyan activists posted a leaked audio of GNA Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj following his latest meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Sarraj says in the audio that Libyans are at the service of the Turkish people.

“Turkey did its job perfectly and now it waits for its piece of the cake,” Sarraj purportedly says in the audio.

In Mid-May, Turkey signaled its plans to start drilling for oil in Libya. The state-run Turkish Petroleum International Company said it had submitted a request to the GNA to start operations in this regard and that actual drilling would start soon after the approvals are made.

Donmez said his country would drill for oil in seven areas. He added that a Turkish drilling ship had already started drilling in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Meanwhile, a Russian newspaper warned against Turkish drilling in the region. This drilling, it said, would trigger tensions.