Turkey’s scheme to threaten Egypt, Libya

By Sarah Rashad and Mustafa Kamel

Libya is a unique case to the countries that support terrorism, especially Turkey. Libya regards a unique opportunity to receive “Daesh members” fleeing from Syria and Iraq, which means preserving them. Libya’s militants are a threat to Egypt’s national security and thus serve Ankara in its dispute with Cairo.

The news of arrest ship, announced by Greece on January 10, while it was en route to Libya after leaving the Turkish ports of Mersin and Iskenderun, reaffirmed the involvement of the Turkish state in supporting terrorism in several countries in the Middle East, including Libya.

The danger of the arrival of arms and explosives to Libya’s armed men extends to Egypt’s national security. These militants are not confined to Libya, but they infiltrate into Egypt to carry out terrorist attacks in Delta and Upper Egypt too. For this reason, Egypt is carrying out tight security operations on its western border. While in some cases carried out operations inside Libya with the consent of the Libyan authorities to target some elements that intelligence revealed about their planned to infiltrate into Egypt.

The incident, which took place on October 20, in which 16 Egyptian officers and police soldiers were killed in the oases in the western desert of Egypt, highlighted the seriousness of the Libyan situation on Egyptian security. The Egyptian investigations revealed that a group known as “Ansar al-Islam” Which adopted the attack came from Libya and transferred in the desert of Upper Egypt governorates, planned for the operation, which targeted an Egyptian Security Ambush. Investigations confirmed that the terrorist elements came from Libya with just one aim, implementation a terrorist operations in Egypt.

On the threat of terrorists to the national security of Egypt and Libya, the Libyan politician, Mohammed al-Zubaidi, said that those terrorists have the same idea about the ruling regimes in Egypt and Libya, considering them “infidels” so they have to fight them. He stressed that Egypt is aware of the seriousness of the situation in Libya, so it deals with it as a purely Egyptian security.

“Many countries are involved in supporting terrorists in Libya,” al-Zubaidi said, noting that Turkey and Qatar are the main reasons for creation of terrorism in Libya. He added that Turkey has been and continues to facilitate the transfer of terrorists from its ports to Libya, and Syria, pointing out that Turkey insists on this role, despite the evidence which condemns it in this regard.

He added that the extension of these militants with weapons and explosive aim to push these terrorists after the repeated losses inside Libya, noting that Ankara is keen to preserve Libya as a suitable opportunity to plant terrorism.

The Libyan authorities have already accused Ankara of sponsoring terrorism in Libya. The Libyan interim prime minister, Abdullah al-Thani, accused the Turkish government of supporting terrorism in Libyan territory. “Turkey supports terrorism in Libya with Qatari funds,” he said in an interview with Russia Today in 2015. “There are some countries seeking to impose a radical Islamic trend on Libya” he added.