Turkish Parliament adopts motion to send troops to Central Africa, Mali

ANKARA

REUTERS Photo

The Turkish Parliament approved on Nov. 20 a motion to authorize the government to send troops to the Central African Republic and Mali as part of an EU peacekeeping force.The motion will be valid for one year.In February, the EU’s outgoing foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, asked Turkey to contribute to a military mission to help end sectarian unrest in the Central African Republic. At the time, Turkish officials said the EU did not specifically ask for troops from Ankara but was seeking some kind of Turkish “contribution.”Only a few days after Ashton’s letter asking for “contribution” arrived in Ankara, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who was prime minister at the time, to encourage Turkey to play an active role in the military mission to help end sectarian unrest in the Central African Republic.At the time, officials said Ankara was considering sending army officers to be deployed at headquarters and/or send a C-130 aircraft.