Syria 2.0? Turkey and Russia establish joint working committee on Libya

 

Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Mevlut Cavusoglu, 5 June 2017 (Photo by AP Photo/ Burhan Ozbilic)

BEIRUT, LEBANON (11:20 P.M.) – Despite supporting opposing sides in another conflict in the Mediterranean, both Russia and Turkey have setup a joint working committee to establish peace inside Libya.

Similar to Syria, the Turkish Foreign Ministry announced the holding of talks between Moscow and Ankara regarding the Libyan crisis to create conditions for a permanent ceasefire in Libya, as well as the formation of a joint working group tasked with achieving progress in the political dialogue between the Libyans.

In an interview with “Without Restrictions,” Turkish political analyst Firas Radwanoglu said:

“This committee is necessary because it will reduce the number of international players in Libya and create conditions for the start of a political process and an initial ceasefire.”

In turn, Libyan political analyst Imad Qaddara told Without Restrictions:

“The Libyan National Army and Parliament will reject the presence of Turkey in any dialogue because it is a competing party and continues its military operations and mobilization of forces and is a party in the war and not in peace, but apparently they started talking about this  committee after the Egyptian parliament authorized the army to enter militarily in Libya.”

Turkey has supported the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) against the Tobruk-based Libyan Parliament and the Libyan National Army (LNA), which, in turn, is supported by Russia, theUnited Arab Emirates, and Egypt.