MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th January, 2020) French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday has accused his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, of violating the agreements reached at the Berlin conference on Libya in terms of refraining from interference in the Libyan civil conflict on either of the rivals' side.
"I would like to express my concern over Turkey's actions at the moment which directly contradict to what President Erdogan promised to do during the Berlin conference," Macron said at a press conference with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
The French president clarified that he was specifically referring to the movement of Turkish troops from Syria to Libya. He described it as "an obvious and very serious violation of what was agreed in Berlin."
"It is a breach of promise, it is an infringement on the Libyan sovereignty and the security of the Europeans and people of Sahel," Macron said.
On January 19, Berlin hosted an international conference on Libyan reconciliation with Turkey among participants. It resulted in adoption of a joint communique in which signatories pledge to refrain from assistance to any of the rival Libyan administrations, among other things.
In Libya, the confrontation between the internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) of Fayez Sarraj and the rival Libyan National Army (LNA) of Khalifa Haftar has practically split the oil-rich country into a duopoly since 2011.
Turkey has repeatedly vowed readiness to send troops to assist the GNA, a pledge facilitated into action by a memorandum on security and military cooperation that Erdogan and Sarraj signed in late November. Alongside insisting that Turkish forces in Libya only provide training to GNA troops and do not engage in actual military actions, Erdogan has also deemed the Berlin communique void for lacking Haftar's signature.
