After Paris and Cairo, Mohamed el-Menfi, President of the Libyan Presidential Council, visited Ankarace on Friday 26 March. There he met with Turkish Prime Minister Reçep Tayyip Erdogan. A “working meeting”, confirms the news agency Anadolu, to “discuss the multi-rooted relations” between the two countries.
An official request came to President Reçep Tayyip Erdogan to withdraw Syrian mercenaries as well as Turkish military experts who were present in Tripoli at the end of May 2020.
According to a Libyan government source, this request has already been transmitted to Turkish intelligence services ten days ago in Tripoli. The Libyans then announced that they would no longer pay the salaries of these mercenaries, in violation of the terms of the military agreement signed with the former government of Fayez al-Sarraj.
Ankara wants to protect its economic interests in Libya
Libya was linked to Ankara through two agreements: military and economic. Turkey seems ready to review the military agreement if its economic interests are preserved. The new Libyan leader wants to keep the economic agreement to take advantage of a large quota of gas. This agreement gives Turkey the right to extract this gas from the eastern Mediterranean.
The two countries also agreed on the need to increase trade. Ankara is trying to increase its investments in Libya and intends to take an active part in the reconstruction.
Under international pressure, Turkey has begun withdrawing a very limited number of these Syrian mercenaries from Tripoli. Their number is now estimated at 8000.
