Turkey extending mission of its troops in Libya

Fatma Abdelghani

The Turkish parliament has received a bill from the presidency for extending the mission of Turkish troops in Libya for 18 more months.

The presidency submitted the bill to the parliament on December 12.

It gives the Turkish president the right to decide the duration of the presence of the troops in Libya. The bill adds that the mandate of the troops will last for a year that can be renewed, in the light of article no. 92 of the Turkish constitution.

The Turkish presidency claims in the bill that efforts for the building of state institutions stopped in Libya after 2011 because of rampant unrest in the country.

The bill, observers said, reflect understandings on the presence of the troops between the Turkish presidency and the Government of National Accord (GNA) which controls Libyan capital Tripoli.

Erdogan urged his country’s parliament in December 2019 to approve a bill for sending troops to Libya. The Turkish parliament approved the bill, even as opposition parties rejected it.

Soon after approving the bill, Erdogan said Turkish troops had already been sent to Libya at an official request from the GNA.

Ankara has already sent thousands of mercenaries to Libya to back the GNA. It also refuses to withdraw the same mercenaries in the light of previous understandings with the GNA.

According to media reports, Turkey is even sending more mercenaries to Libya.

Khaled al-Majdoub, a senior commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA), said earlier that Turkey continued to send hirelings to Libya.

“The LNA keeps tracking the hirelings that come here,” Majdoub said.