Rabat – A spokesperson for the Turkish Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that Turkey appreciates Morocco’s efforts to resolve the Libya crisis.
Turkey is closely following the Libya dialogue sessions in Bouznika and supports Morocco’s “constructive” efforts, said spokesman Hami Aksoy.
Aksoy recalled that Morocco hosted a dialogue between the rival Libyan parties in 2015, which yielded the signing of the Skhirat Agreement in 2015. Turkey voiced its support for the agreement and Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu attended the signing ceremony.
The Skhirat Agreement is the only internationally-recognized framework for solving the Libyan crisis. The text helped create an interim Libyan government and established a ceasefire.
The spokesman added that Turkey has always advocated for an inter-Libyan political process as a means of resolving the crisis in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions.
However, Turkey’s foreign policy and engagement in the Eastern Mediterranean and Libya have earned Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan international criticism.
Observers have described Turkish and Russian involvement in the Libyan conflict as a proxy war.
Turkey has supplied military and financial support to the Government of National Accord (GNA) to push back the Libyan National Army (LNA), which enjoys support from Russia.
Erdogan has also funneled illegal arms and mercenaries to Libya in violation of international law. The US Defense Department’s inspector general reported in July that Turkey sent up to 3,800 paid Syrian fighters to Libya in the first three months of 2020.
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Bouznika dialogue
Delegations from Libya’s rival parliaments gathered in Bouznika on Sunday to begin talks aimed at preserving the August 20 ceasefire and take the first steps towards resolving the Libyan crisis.
The High Council of State and the Parliament of Tobruk said on Tuesday that the talks have produced “important understandings.”
The two parties “achieved important understandings that include setting clear rules aimed at eliminating corruption, reducing the waste of public money, and ending the state of institutional division,” a joint statement announced.
The dialogue follows the visit of the President of the High Council of State, Khalid Al Mishri, and the Speaker of the Tobruk Parliament, Aguila Issa Saleh, to Rabat in July.
During the visit, both officials reiterated that the 2015 Skhirat Agreement must be the basis for any solution to the crisis in Libya but acknowledged that the text requires updates.
Al Mishri also expressed his willingness to engage in dialogue in Morocco with the rival Libyan party.