On Saturday, the Minister of Defence of the Government of National Accord (GNA), Salah Al-Namroush, said that the visit of his Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar to Tripoli comes to reaffirm Turkey’s military support to the GNA and push ahead with the fulfillment of its obligations to continue its training programs with Libyan soldiers and officers.
In a press statement, Al-Namroush hailed Turkey’s role in supporting the GNA by saying, “Our cooperation agreements include restructuring the Libyan Army’s cadres to raise their capabilities as per international standards.”
He noted that the Libyan Army’s batches graduated, and new training centres were opened for this purpose, claiming that they will continue to improve the Libyan military institution to become loyal only to the homeland.
The Turkish Defence Minister, accompanied by Turkey’s Chief of General Staff Yasar Guler, and other military commanders made a surprise trip to Tripoli earlier today. This is two days after the Commander-in-Chief of the Libyan National Army (LNA), Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, urged his fighters to drive out Turkish forces from the oil-rich country.
Akar and the Turkish military delegation arrived in Tripoli’s Mitiga airport and were welcomed by Al-Namroush, Chief of Staff Mohammed Al-Haddad and the military zones’ commanders, in addition to Turkey’s ambassador in Libya.
Turkey has backed the Tripoli-based GNA with military advisers, material, and mercenaries against the offensive on Tripoli launched in 2019 by LNA forces.
Akar’s visit to Tripoli also comes after the Turkish parliament’s adoption of a motion to extend the deployment of Turkish-backed forces in Libya by 18 months.
