During the summit intended to resolve Libya crisis in Berlin, on January 19, France’s President Emmanuel Macron urged end to deployment of pro-Turkish Syrian fighters to Libya. He stated that foreign troop deployments in war-ravaged Libya are interventions which serve only to fuel the conflict and create new risks for everyone. He expressed his “acute concerns over the arrival of Syrian and foreign fighters in the city of Tripoli” as reported by online newspaper RFI France. “The Turkish authorities in Ankara have been accused of sending hundreds of Syrian fighters into Tripoli to back up Fayez al-Sarraj’s UN-recognised government, while Moscow has allegedly deployed mercenaries to lend support to rival strongman Khalifa Haftar” the online newspaper said.
French leader called on the United Nations to negotiate a true and lasting ceasefire, without demanding any initial conditions from the various factions involved in the conflict.
The next day, on January 20, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that Turkey sent a group of trainers to the country. “We are not sending military forces to Libya at the moment. We have only sent a group for training and they carried it out there,” Erdoğan told reporters on his way back from Berlin, while also slamming the presence of mercenaries in support of Haftar-led Libyan National Army as reported by online newspaper Duvar. Erdoğan stated that Turkey’s efforts regarding Libya brought balance to process. “We will continue to support political process both on the field and on the table,” he said.
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