Turkey’s parliament has authorized the government to dispatch troops to Libya, highlighting Ankara’s increasingly assertive policy in the Mediterranean region. A resolution approved during an emergency parliamentary session on Thursday gives Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan full authority over the coming 12 months to decide on the scope and exact assignments of any deployment to Libya.
The move adds a central Mediterranean theater to Ankara’s active agenda in the Middle East. Mr. Erdogan deployed the Turkish military in northeastern Syria in October as part of an offensive aimed at repelling a U.S.-backed Kurdish militia from the Turkish border. He has also threatened to resort to military force to establish Turkish claims over offshore oil and natural-gas reserves around Cyprus, which Turkey doesn’t recognize, and counter efforts by countries such as Greece and Israel to develop them.In Libya, Mr. Erdogan has vowed to help the government spawned by a United Nations agreement in 2015 repel attacks by a powerful militia commander, including by delivering more arms and possibly sending troops.
“Turkey will send a force to Libya,” said Turkish lawmaker Emrullah Isler, who also serves as Mr. Erdogan’s envoy to Libya, during parliamentary debates on Thursday. “Turkey’s military presence will act as a deterrent.”
Mr. Erdogan’s plan has raised concerns in the U.S., which has taken an ambiguous stance on who should run Libya. “President Trump pointed out that foreign interference is complicating the situation in Libya,” White House deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley said in a statement Thursday after the two leaders spoke on the telephone.