ATHENS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd January, 2020) The Turkish plans to deploy troops to Libya violate the UN Security Council's resolution on the arms embargo in the north African nation, and Ankara should refrain from escalating the conflict in Libya, a joint communique of Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades said.
Mitsotakis, Netanyahu and Anastasiades met on Thursday in Athens to sign an agreement on the construction of the EastMed pipeline, which is expected to bring Israeli and Cypriot natural gas to Greece and Italy. During the talks, the parties also focused on the Thursday decision of the Turkish parliament to adopt a law, allowing Ankara to send troops to Libya.
"Turkey should not violate the Libyan Political Agreement and related United Nations resolutions. The repercussions of such a reckless move will be dire for the stability and peace of the entire region. Ankara should refrain from taking such action, which blatantly violates Libyan national sovereignty and independence," the joint communique said.
It also describes the Turkish parliament's decision as "a dangerous escalation of the conflict and a significant deterioration of the situation."
On Wednesday, Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said Ankara would not send its troops to Libya if the Libyan National Army led by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar stopped its attack on Tripoli. Oktay told the Anadolu news agency that if Haftar continued the offensive, Turkey would send troops to the north African nation.
