ANTAKYA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th February, 2021) Turkey welcomes the election of the transitional executive authority in Libya, Yassin Aktai, advisor to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, told Sputnik, adding that the election will not have an impact on the Turkish military presence in Libya.
"Turkey's agreements with the Libyan Government of National Accord and the Turkish military presence in Libya will not be affected by the election of a new transitional government. Turkey is present in Libya at the invitation of the Libyan people and government. The new transitional government does not oppose these agreements and the Turkish presence in Libya, on the contrary, it supports the Turkish role there," Aktain told Sputnik on Saturday.
On Friday, the Swiss-hosted Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) elected an interim unity government that will be in charge until a national general election scheduled for December 24. The LPDF elected Mohammad Younes Menfi, former ambassador of the Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) in Greece, as the new head of the Presidency Council.
Libya has been divided between two opposing governments since the overthrow and assassination of the country's long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The administrations known as the Government of National Accord (GNA) and the Libyan National Army (LNA) control the country's west and east, respectively.
In November of last year the two sides agreed to launch UN-led talks to find a political solution to the Libyan crisis. The Libyan Political Dialogue Forum in Tunisia kicked off that month with the participation of 75 public and political figures of Libya, delegated from all regions of the country.
In mid-November, the participants of the inter-Libyan dialogue in Tunisia agreed on a road map for the unification of state power bodies in the country. They also agreed that the date for national elections on a constitutional basis should be December 24, 2021 - 70 years after Libya's Declaration of Independence.
