France, Turkey lock horns over Libya

Aya Ezz

Tensions are brewing between France and Libya after the latter accused the former of fomenting the crisis in Libya.

The Élysée Palace expressed anger, meanwhile, at the practices of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Libya.

French President Emmanuel Macron accused Erdoğan of failing to honor the pledges he made during the Berlin Conference in January this year on maintaining a truce in Libya.

Following his meeting with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Paris, Macron added that his country is concerned over Turkish conduct in Libya.

He said this conduct contradicts the pledges Erdoğan made during the conference in Berlin.

“We saw Turkish ships ferrying Syrian mercenaries to Libya in the past days, in a blatant violation of agreements made during the Berlin conference,” Macron said.

Macron’s remarks came shortly after Turkey deployed troops in Tripoli Port on June 10.

The troops arrived to the Libyan port on board of two Turkish warships, which is unprecedented since Turkey started sending mercenaries to aid the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) in Libya.

On June 15, France said it would hold talks with its NATO partners on Ankara’s hostile role in Libya.

It accused Turkey of hampering a truce in Libya and violating a United Nations arms embargo on the country.

France also called on NATO to take action against Turkish violations in Libya.

Turkish response

Turkey countered by blaming France and accusing it of causing unrest in Libya.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry even accused Paris of being the principal force behind the crises in Libya since 2011.

Political science professor at Cairo University Mohamed Hussein expected France to escalate its action against Turkey in the coming period.

This is especially true against the background of the aggressive conduct of Turkey in Libya, he told The Reference.