For more terrorism, Erdogan threatens Tripoli with fate of Syria

Mouaz Mohammad

It seems that Libya will witness a similar fate to Syria, if the army led by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar is unable to control the capital Tripoli, and liberate it from the hands of the Fayez al-Sarraj government and its militias, which have agreed with Turkey to enhance cooperation between the two countries in a number of areas, chiefly the military and the navy.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on November 27, 2019, signed two memoranda of understanding with al-Sarraj, President of the Presidential Council of the Libyan Accord Government, the first relating to security and military cooperation, and the other to delineate maritime jurisdiction areas.

Turkish Minister of Defense, Khulusi Akar, stressed on Sunday, December 22, 2019, during the ceremony of landing the modern home-made submarine Peri President to the water in Kocaeli Province, northwest of the country, that Ankara will continue to stand alongside its brothers in Libya until peace, tranquility and security are achieved as it did in Syria.

Given the situation in Syria, and in the event that Field Marshal Haftar, the Libyan army commander, did not take control of the capital, Tripoli, and extract it from the Al-Wefaq government, headed by al-Sarraj. Through the “decisive battle” announced, Libya will witness some similar situations to what happened in Damascus, from which it was.

ISIS expansion

Several intelligence reports revealed that Turkey was the gateway for foreign ISIS elements, to reach Syria and Iraq, and to join the ranks of the organization, which means a new facility for those elements to be in Libya, similar to Damascus.

Turkey has many ISIS operatives in its prisons, who were arrested during the “Nab’a Al-Salam” military operation, which it launched in northern Syria, on October 7, 2019.

Civil war

With the beginning of 2018, the Turkish forces launched the “olive branch” operation in the Syrian city of Afrin to confront the Kurdish People’s Protection Units, which Ankara considers “terrorist”. Likewise, in October 2019, another launched a “peace spring” in the north of Syria, to fight the Kurds as well, and to establish the so-called “safe zone”, to transfer refugees to it.

Erdogan pledged to send his soldiers to Libya if the Tripoli government requested it, which means an open confrontation with the army led by Haftar in the capital, Tripoli, if the reconciliation government wanted it.

Supporting terrorist organizations

Over the past years, the Turkish president has been accused of supporting terrorist organizations, led by “ISIS” in Syria, and providing them with aid, including oil.

Likewise, on November 14, 2019, Stanislav Grošbec, head of the Czech Parliamentary Group for Friendship with Syria, confirmed that Turkish forces are committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Damascus, stressing that Erdogan’s wrong policies are the cause of all of their country’s problems, both external and internal.

By analogy, if the Turkish forces were able to be present in Libya, the latter would become a scene of terrorist operations and humanitarian crimes, especially as this would support the position of ISIS there, after losing its strongholds in Syria and Iraq, and searching for a new foothold.

In addition, al-Sarraj, head of the Libyan Al-Wefaq Government, is accused of belonging to the terrorist Brotherhood, especially after having fully supported him, which also means strengthening its ranks and increasing its capacity and control over Tripoli and the Libyan territories.