Turkish parliament working on bill to allow troop deployment to Libya: Erdoğan aide

Turkey may need to draft a bill to allow for troop deployment to Libya and its parliament is working on the issue, Presidential Spokesman Ibrahim Kalın said on Tuesday, after Ankara signed a military cooperation agreement with Tripoli last month.

Turkey backs Libya's internationally recognised government and has said it could deploy troops there if it receives such a request. Libya's Tripoli-based government has been fighting off a months-long offensive by Khalifa Haftar's forces in the east.

Speaking in Ankara after a cabinet meeting, Kalın added that Turkey would continue to provide the necessary support to Fayez al-Serraj's Tripoli-based government.
Any plan excluding Turkey in the Eastern Mediterranean is impossible, and Turkey will not shrink from steps needed to stand with the Libyan government and its people, Kalın said in a statement.

Turkey on Nov. 27 signed maritime boundary and security cooperation pacts with Libya's Tripoli-based, internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA), spurning moves by other countries to carve up the Eastern Mediterranean without Turkish participation.

On Russia support for Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar -- who leads forces opposed to the GNA -- Kalin stressed that this does not contribute to peace in the country.

Since the ouster of late leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, two seats of power have emerged in Libya: one in eastern Libya supported mainly by Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, and another in Tripoli, which enjoys UN and international recognition.

Kalın also said that Turkey will stand against any movement towards its borders if it happens due to U.S. or Russian relations with YPG/PKK terrorists.

Turkey launched Operation Peace Spring on Oct. 9 to eliminate YPG/PKK terrorists from northern Syria to secure Turkey's borders, aid in the safe return of Syrian refugees, and ensure Syria's territorial integrity.

Since then, Turkey reached agreements with both the U.S. and Russia to force the terrorist YPG/PKK to withdraw from the planned terror-free zone along Turkey's borders.

The U.S. has worked with the YPG in the name of fighting Daesh terrorists, ignoring Turkish objections that using one terrorist group to fight another makes no sense.

In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union -- has been responsible for the deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children and infants. The YPG is its Syrian offshoot.