ATHENS/ANKARA/TRIPOLI, Dec 30 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Greece wants to be included in UN-sponsored talks in January on the Libya conflict, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said, as tensions escalate with neighbours Turkey over the issue.
Libya has become another diplomatic front for Greece and Turkey as the traditional rivals jostle over Mediterranean maritime rights and the competing camps in the North African country’s conflict.
“We do not want a source of instability in our neighbourhood. Therefore we want a say in developments in Libya,” Mitsotakis told To Vima weekly in an interview.
“We want to be part of the solution in Libya, as it concerns us too,” he said.
The UN has said an international conference will be held next month in Berlin to pave the way for a political solution to Libya’s ongoing conflict.
Libya has been beset by chaos since a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011, with rival administrations in the east and the west vying for power.
“I have requested, and will do so again with greater insistence, that we participate in the Berlin process,” Mitsotakis said.
In November, Ankara signed a contentious maritime and military deal with the embattled UN-recognised government in Tripoli.
Greece immediately rejected it as baseless, arguing that Turkey and Libya share no maritime border.
Meanwhile in ANKARA, Turkey’s foreign minister warned that the Libyan conflict risks sliding into chaos and becoming the next Syria, as he sought to speed up legislation to allow it to send troops to the North African country.
Libya’s internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli has been struggling to fend off General Khalifa Haftar’s forces, which have been supported by Russia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Jordan.
“If today Libya becomes like Syria, then the turn will come for the other countries in the region,” Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said at a meeting of the governing AK Party.
“We need to do whatever is needed to prevent Libya from being divided and slide into chaos, and that is what we are doing. It is the legitimate government there that we deal with,” he said, stressing the military and security deal signed with Libya is important.
Cavusoglu will meet with three opposition party leaders on Monday and the government is expected to discuss the motion within the coming week.
Last week, President Tayyip Erdogan announced his government’s decision to seek a parliamentary consent to send troops to Libya to defend the U.N.-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli against General Khalifa Haftar forces which receives military support from Russia, Egypt and United Arab Emirates.
Haftar’s fighters have failed to reach the center of Tripoli but have made small gains in recent weeks in some southern suburbs of the capital with the help of Russian and Sudanese fighters, as well as drones shipped by the UAE, diplomats say.
