Dec 4, 2014

Turkey had initially opposed NATO's intervention in the uprising against Moammar Gadhafi's regime in Libya to prevent France from playing a prominent role. But within a month, Turkey gave NATO the green light and allowed Izmir to become the command center of the NATO operation. Now, Ankara is griping about foreign intervention in Libya. Of course, this attitude is not prompted by the foreign policy principle of maintaining neutrality. On the contrary, Turkey has not abandoned its policies that are dragging it into a war of proxies because of its backing of the Muslim Brotherhood. On one side Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have joined forces to squash the Muslim Brotherhood and on the other side are Turkey and Qatar. Sudan has joined the Qatar-Turkey bloc by playing a role in Qatari weapons shipments to Libyan Dawn, a superstructure of militia forces dominating Tripoli.

The Justice and Development Party (AKP) government in Ankara categorically rejects accusations that it is taking sides in Libya and working only with the Muslim Brotherhood. But Ankara’s reading of the political developments in Libya and its views about the parties there immediately brings Ankara to one side. For one thing, the AKP government is not hiding its support for the Tripoli-based General National Congress (GNC) and the Omar al-Hassi government — which is not recognized by the international community — against the House of Representatives and the government of Abdullah al-Thinni.

When "Operation Dignity" led by retired Gen. Khalifa Hifter, who represents the military front of the House of Representatives and the Thinni government, bombed on Nov. 24-25 Tripoli's Mitiga International Airport under the control of rival militias, Turkey's Foreign Ministry commented: "We strongly condemn the airstrikes. The crisis in Libya can be resolved only by ceasing foreign interventions, reaching a cease-fire and a comprehensive political dialogue.”

The language used by the government-controlled media in Turkey, including the national news agency Anadolu, sheds light on how one side is favored. The government media has persistently referred to Hifter, who has declared war on Islamic organizations in Tripoli that control Benghazi and against the Muslim Brotherhood and the GNC that is supported by militias from Misrata, as a “putschist” or “coup-plotting general.” To understand the position of the AKP government it suffices to follow reporting by the semi-official Anadolu news agency.

In October, when Hifter declared Turks in Libya as "unwanted persons," and even took some of them hostage, there was an interesting diplomatic demarche from Ankara. Emrullah Isler, the special envoy of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, went to Libya and met with various parties, first in Tobruk and then in Tripoli.