Turkey’s Erdogan government reported over the weekend that they are trying to speed up their planned deployment of ground troops to Libya. The troops would be defending the Government of National Accord (GNA) from Gen. Khalifa Hafter’s Libyan National Army (LNA).
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu suggested that Turkey might no longer believe they can wait a few weeks on the deployment, and needs to “do whatever is needed to prevent Libya from being divided.”
Erdogan is still pointing to giving parliament the bill authorizing deployment on January 7. It is expected to pass, while opposition MPs question what the ruling party thinks going to Libya will accomplish.
Erdogan is keen to keep the GNA intact because they reached a military pact allowing naval access which would allow Turkish ships to explore for offshore oil and gas in Libyan waters.
The LNA is backed by a number of states, and the parliament connected to the LNA has expressed opposition to Turkey’s involvement.
Time to send Haftar packing.