On Wednesday, Libyan MP, Misbah Douma said that “those meeting in Istanbul, must demand the immediate departure of Turkish forces from Libya.”
In a tweet, he added that the meeting “will be a labour of the Turks, and a disgrace to them that they met with the occupier of their country.”
According to AlSaaa24, the Istanbul meeting is being held under the auspices of Ali Al-Sallabi and the presence of Ali Zaidan, Abdullah Othman, Fathallah Al-Saaiti, Ahmed Maiteeq, Faisal Qarqab, Mohamed Al-Muntasir, Ali Kaddour, Abdul Hakim Blaiheg, Saleh Ibrahim, Issa Abdul Majeed, Abdul Majeed Saif Al-Nasr, Moein Al-Kikhia and Imad Al-Banani.
Last month, the former Libyan Minister of Interior, Ashour Shuwail claimed that Ankara is seeking to resolve its economic crisis by exploiting the oil and gas wealth of Libya.
In an interview with Asharq News, Shuwail said “Libya is a rich country with promising potential, and a distinguished strategic location. However, the country is suffering from deteriorating education and health conditions.”
Shuwail pointed to the political and constitutional blockage, noting that it was a result of “officials clinging to power for many years, which helped spread corruption. For more than 10 years, the international community has tried to bring Libya to safety, but those attempts failed due to the incorrect diagnosis of the problem in Libya.”
The former official claimed that the Central Bank of Libya (CBL) “is under the control of ideological personalities, who sponsor Turkey’s interests and ambitions in Libya.”
He stressed the importance of the international community helping the Libyan people to hold Presidential and Parliamentary elections, as soon as possible. He called on the Libyan parties to pressure for the holding of elections.
Shuwail also accused “some countries” of taking advantage of the continuing crisis in Libya, to obtain oil and gas. As well as noting that there are suspicions regarding the United Kingdom benefiting from Libyan oil.
He said that all previous governments used militias to stay in power, and they paid millions of dinars to those militias. “The militia crisis will end, when financial support for them ends,” he confirmed.
“There are heavily armed militias stationed in Tripoli. Anyone who tries to move against Turkey, even in a peaceful movement, can be shot,” he said.
He proposed dividing Libya into three regions, within a unified state. “Libya is a country with a vast area that is difficult to govern centrally,” he explained.
Responding to the far-right victory in Italy, the former Minister said it could pose a threat to the migrant crisis. “Libya is a transit country for illegal immigration, and Italy and some European countries are seeking to return foreign migrants to Libya,” he explained.
He called for the development of the migrant origin countries, such as Sudan, Niger, and others.