Libyan politician: Turkey’s removal of foreign fighters from Libya is political fraud
CAIRO, Egypt (North Press) – A Libyan politician said on Saturday that the removal of foreign fighters from Libya is a political maneuver through which Turkey seeks to serve its current strategic ambitions.
“Turkey localized agents in special positions in Libya,” Muhammad Asmar, the director of the Libyan National Institute for Strategic Studies, told North Press.
“Through this political fraud or by the principle of ‘the end justifies the means,’ Turkey withdrew a number of mercenaries to serve its ambitions and goals,” Asmar said.
During the past few days, groups of the foreign fighters, especially Syrians that Turkey sent to fight alongside the Government of National Accord (GNA) left Libya. Accord government in Libya left Libya.
The civil war in Libya began in 2014 between two rival factions – the Tobruk-based House of Representatives (HoR), which is militarily supported by the Libyan National Army (LNA) led by Marshal Khalifa Haftar, and the UN-recognized, Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA), led by Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj.
The withdrawal of Syrian mercenaries from Libya came after ceasefire decision as well as the announcement of GNA head Fayez al-Sarraj that he would be stepping down in 2020.
The first Turkish ambition was to reduce the burden of paying their salaries and using them for other goals, especially after 18,000 mercenaries arrived to Libya during the war and are now no longer needed, according to Asmar.
The second is that Turkey deludes the world that it has responded to UN demands that the mercenaries should be withdrawn, and thus presents itself as sympathetic and cooperating with international requests, he confirmed.
“Turkey has not left the war, and the war has not ended yet, given that the ceasefire is not defined by mechanisms and pillars,” he said.
“The ceasefire is mere announcements by both parties, and there is not a third monitoring party, so that it is possible for Turkey to commit any inanity as a result of a policy that it deems in its favour,” he pointed out.
The consultations between the delegations of the intra-Libyan discussions in Bouznika, Morocco, on Saturday discuss the criteria for assuming sovereign positions, Ali Sweih, a member of the High Council of State in Libya, an advisory body meant to mediate between the GNA and HoR, said.
On Friday evening, the Libyan dialogue sessions resumed in Bouznika in a second phase between delegations from the High Council of State in Libya and the House of Representatives.
During this phase, Fawzi Oqab headed the High Council of State, and Youssef Aqory headed the House of Representatives.
This phase came nearly a month after the first phase that Bouznika hosted from the sixth to the tenth of last September, the Maghreb Arab News Agency stated.
Moreover, the two parties had reached a comprehensive agreement on the transparent and objective criteria and mechanisms for assuming sovereign positions with the aim of unifying them.
The two parties also agreed to continue the dialogue and resume their meetings in order to complete the necessary measures that ensure the implementation and activation of this agreement.