Ankara slams Egypt for remarks against Turkey

Turkey on Wednesday slammed a statement by the Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman on Libya, Anadolu reports.

By targeting Turkey, Ahmed Hafez is trying to cover up Egypt’s maneuvers in Libya, said Hami Aksoy, spokesman for the Turkish Foreign Ministry.

“It is not surprising that the Egyptian administration supported Libya’s renegade commander Khalifa Haftar, who aims to establish a military dictatorship in Libya,” the Turkish official said in a statement.

By rejecting the Libyan Political Agreement, which was ratified by the UN Security Council Resolution 2259, to support warlord Haftar and claiming commitment to the process of the political solution in Libya is a grave contradiction, the statement added.

“If the Egyptian administration really wants to promote the political solution in Libya and cares about the well-being of the Libyan people, it should stop its support to Haftar’s coup attempts,” it said.

Haftar unilaterally declared himself the ruler of Libya on Monday, claiming that he “accepted the mandate of the Libyan people” and terming the Skhirat agreement of 2015 “a thing of the past.”

Since the ouster of late ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, two seats of power have emerged in Libya: renegade military commander Khalifa Haftar in eastern Libya, supported by Egypt and the UAE, and the Government of National Accord in Tripoli, which enjoys UN and international recognition.

Haftar’s self-proclaimed Libyan National Army (LNA) launched a failed offensive to take Tripoli last April, which caused bloodshed and suffering but stalled on the outskirts of the city.