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On April 12th, Libyan Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah of the Interim government affirmed Tripoli’s commitment to the 2019 maritime agreement with Turkey.
He did so in a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The controversial deal has long been rejected by Greece, Cyprus and France. It also led to thousands of Syrian militants being deployed to Libya in order to fight on behalf of the Government of National Accord against Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar’s forces.
Dbeibah was on his first official visit to Ankara, and Erdogan pledged to support Libya’s unity, its reconstruction and its military.
Turkey would also be sending 150,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses, as well as managing a pandemic hospital in Tripoli to help the North African country battle its outbreak, Erdogan said.
The number seems impressive, but it should be reminded that Libya’s population is nearly 7 million.
Turkey has been closely involved in Libya, attempting to establish military bases and exploit Libya’s EEZ and land resources under the justification of military assistance.
Turkey sent military supplies and militants to Libya, helping to attempt and tilt the balance of power in favour of the Tripoli government.
Back in 2019, Turkey signed the agreement in question with the Tripoli-based government delineating the maritime boundaries between the two countries in the Mediterranean, triggering protests from Greece and Cyprus. Both countries denounced the agreement, saying it was a serious breach of international law that disregarded the rights of other eastern Mediterranean countries.
“The memorandum of understanding concerning the maritime jurisdiction in the Mediterranean that we signed with our neighbour Libya, has secured the interest and future of both countries,” Erdogan said.
Dbeibah said the deal serves both Turkey and Libya’s national interests. Initially, the Libyan interim PM attempted to balance Turkey and Greece, but appears to have abandoned Athens’ concerns mostly.
“Regarding the agreements signed by our countries, especially the maritime deal, we reaffirm that those agreements are valid,” Dbeibah said after talks with Erdogan.
He added that it was important to start a dialogue that would take into account all involved parties’ interests.
Meanwhile, Greece called for the accord to be cancelled, as it reopened its embassy in Libya after seven years on April 12th.
Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias met Libya’s alternative Prime Minister Hussein Atiya Abdul Hafeez al-Qatrani in Benghazi and noted that Libya’s parliament had not ratified the maritime accord, which Greece considers has no legal force.
Erdogan and Dbeibah, who was accompanied by a large delegation, also oversaw the signing of five agreements, including concerning the construction of electricity plants in Libya.
The two countries also agreed to take steps to facilitate the return of Turkish companies to complete stalled projects in the oil-rich North African nation, Erdogan said.
With Erdogan refusing to let go of his grip on Libya’s resources, it is likely that the crisis in the North-African country is far from over.
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Nothing value, always the same braggart, without the slightest reference to international regulations, in this sense Turkey is traveling the same path as the Empire of Evil, that of the order dictated by his rules, a road that will not go anywhere.
Why don’t you just zip it Johnny Boy https://media3.giphy.com/media/BRNj1TV4FpeMw/giphy.gif
Why don’t you just blow yourself up like your friends…
After you captain doom. They are not my friend anyway. now you can rest in pieces
Yeah, and Russia is traveling an even worse part by supporting murderers like El-Sisi who killed over a thousand unarmed civilians in one day just to disperse a sit-in. At least, Turkey isn’t supporting any dictators oppressing and killing his own people. Dictators like Sisi, Assad, MBZ, and others.
What comes around goes around and Russia will one day taste its own medicine.
Russia will do better dumping Turkey and replacing them with Egypt.
This adversarial relation Turkey has towards Russia, is going to cost Erdo dearly.
Russia has suspended commercial flights to Turkey, and can cancel any joint projects at a moments notice.
What joint project does Russia have with Turkey. Russia will lose more if it severs relations with Turkey. The current trade relations benefit Russia more. Russian scientists are building nuclear reactors in Turkey that are largely funded by Russia on loan (to be recovered through electricity bills by Turks).
El-Sisi will rule for long. He has to figure out a way of preventing infiltration through the Western Egyptian desert – large enough to be bigger than some countries. His paranoia over Libya is for this very reason. Even his military are not a united front. Many among them support the Muslim Brotherhood. According to one Israeli website I read, Egypt’s military is heavily infiltrated by the MB through their thousands of sympathizers.
Putin currently has more wars than he can handle. There’s Ukraine, Syria, Libya, Central Africa, N-K, and Belarus. All these situations can get worse any moment and require significant Russian intervention. Modern conflicts tend to be endless and the more wars you get into, the harder it’ll be to end each one.
Putin’s gamble on Sisi is a losing one. He’ll find out as soon as there’s an uprising in Egypt. And make no mistake, there’ll be another uprising. Sisi is doing all he can to keep things going south, but his opponents appear determined to start another Egyptian revolution – only this time it’s likely to start from outside of Egypt.
you love Abdul Hamid Dbeibah because he love Turkey
Every Libyan politician is likely to love Turkey. You know why? Because Turkey was the only country that prevented dictatorship in Libya. If not for Turkey’s intervention, those politicians won’t be ruling Libya now. They would insignificant and terrorized by a dictator.
Both secular and Islamist politicians hate dictatorship and they will be grateful Turkey helped prevent that for them.
Dictators only understand the force of arms. And Turkey did show Sisi and Haftar that the MB does indeed have a highly deadly military that can destroy the dictators too.
And?
I would rather have Assad than have a bad president like Erdogan
LOL
Turkey did this and that you bad-belly writer. Erdogan swung the right bet in Libya. Who gives a fuck about Russia’s attempts to install another dictator in the Muslim world. Haftar and his patrons lost and they are gonna keep losing. It is either democracy in Libya or “NO” dictatorship. I think that’s pretty clear to all by now.
Russia supported and probably even took part in the Egyptian coup. Russia is betting on the dictators who the Muslims of today are hell-bent on overthrowing. El-Sisi is far from stable and his regime will probably be next after Syria. All his fear-mongering about Turkey’s presence in Syria isn’t going to stop the pending Egyptian revolution – one that will likely destroy much of the Western-backed military of Egypt. I can see this coming. The military itself is already divided, with some breaking away to form revolutionary forces around Egypt’s Western Deserts at the border with Libya. The “Egyptian Officers Front” have vowed to protect protesters in the streets. Sisi released their leader from jail just months ago fearing that it will start a crisis in the military. There are plenty of soldiers hating Sisi’s guts right now, especially after his massacre of unarmed civilians.
Libya is a bridge too far for any dictator right now. And if democracy prevails, the Muslim Brotherhood will certainly emerge victorious.
Egypt’s western deserts are its underbelly. It covers 1/3rd of Egypt’s landmass but no people live there due to the harsh climate. There are reports of arms being smuggled through this area into Egypt and over a hundred border security have already been killed over the past few years after the coup. Only God knows where this will end, but it looks set to start some day. My bet is, Egypt’s crisis will be worse than both Syria and Iraq combined once it starts.
Muslim Brotherhood and Morsi are counterparts of of secular Egypt, they caused violence against the Coptic Christians, killing them and burning their churches, Sisi is content where he is on the world spectrum, unlike Erdogan who is a wanna sultan who wants to control eastern Mediterranean natural resources.
Oh, spare me the bullshit. No Christian would ever support a pro-Islam president even if Muslims make 99% of the population. Regardless of whether is violence against them or not, Christians will always seek to bring down leaders like Erdogan and Morsi. None of these leaders supported violence against Christians unless if it be for a just cause – like when Azerbaijan fought to liberate its lands from occupation. The copts are one such Christians and they are a major pillar of Sisi’s government. Hypocrites and Christians always cooperate. They made Egypt ungovernable for Morsi and looked for excuses to overthrow him. They claim that he wanted to impose Shariah on Egyptians – a blatant lie. Did Erdogan impose Shariah before they started hating him? Any leader who wishes well for Muslims is always a target.
But that’s by the way. I’m confident that they MB have learnt a lesson from Egypt. Because another revolution will overthrow Sisi. I’m betting that this will happen before the situation in Libya even stabilizes. My reason is that Haftar has thwarted three different elections in the past just so that Libya is ungovernable by democracy aka the MB. Although the U.S last week warned Haftar against any such move, I think Sisi will push him to disrupt the elections (they’ve been seeing each other lately, and Haftar is beginning to hold drills and issue threats). I am almost certain elections will not hold in December.
If the situation in Libya deteriorates, Sisi will be forced to intervene when Haftar’s forces begin the lose against a UN and Turkey-backed GNU. Sisi’s intervention will bog him down in Libya. He lacks the capability to defeat the GNU due to extensive and vulnerable supply lines, the presence of Turkish drones which will take out his tanks on the level terrain and deserts, Syrian Libyan Egyptian and Tunisian rebels.
Turkey can never have good relations with Sisi’s regime (Erdogan still doesn’t recognize him as a legitimate president). Turkey will be watching the Libyan case closely and ready to ramp up military deployments should Haftar start pulling some shitty moves.
In the end, Sisi gets bogged down in Libya, security deteriorates along the Libya-Egypt border. With Sisi’s soldiers distracted by a war in Libya, rebels infiltrate Egypt through the Western deserts and spark a domestic revolution that’s only waiting to happen. Sisi will suddenly find himself on two front: fighting rebels in Libya and inside Egypt. This will be the likeliest outcome of any Egyptian intervention in Libya.
The revolution in Egypt that overthrew Mubarak was part of the Arab spring orchestrated by Americans who threw Egyptians under the bus.
Egypt relies on Russian presence which is far more stable, and MB is going to suck wind.
Don’t worry, time shall tell
Gaddafi is better than Abdul Hamid Dbeibah
trust me
We’ll see in the coming days. Besides Dbeibah is not going to rule for up to a year. His administration will soon go out when a president emerges after elections.
Putin, MBZ, and Sisi have a last chance to produce their candidate who must win the election. If a coalation of MB and Salafists win, expect more close relations with Turkey. Dbeibah is now working on visa-free travel with Turkey. He’s also pushing for free-trade and the integration of Turkish and Libyan industries. He also asked Turkish companies which left during the war to return and complete their projects and take on new ones.
I think Turkey has won in Libya for good, unless Haftar starts another war (very likely). But he won’t be able to reach the outskirts of Tripoli like before. Most likely, he’ll lose Sirte and Jufra (very strategic). That lose will likely cement his permanent defeat. If Egypt intervenes, war will likely reach the streets of Cairo. It will likely spark a much bigger revolution in Egypt now that the MB supporter are filled with rage and looking for the slightest chance to bring down Sisi.