Tripoli Tenders Tricky Twin Tactics Tackling Turkey’s Territorial Tiff

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Libyan Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh met in Ankara on Monday, less than a month after Dbeibeh was sworn in as leader of the war-torn country’s unity government. The two reaffirmed their commitment to the 2019 maritime accord, which demarcates the countries’ nautical borders and is forcefully opposed by neighboring Greece. During the decadelong civil war in Libya, Ankara played a central role in backing the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (which signed the 2019 naval pact) in its fight against the eastern Libyan National Army. The Libyan government, forged after months of UN-brokered negotiations, includes representatives from both sides. Yet as the Ankara summit was winding down, in Benghazi, Libya’s Deputy Prime Minister Hussein Atiya Abdul Hafeez Al-Qatrani hosted Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias, who thanked Al-Qatrani for his “frank statement on the illegal ‘memorandum’ signed [in 2019] by the GNA Administration and Turkey on maritime zones.” To be Continued.