Tsavousoglu on Libya: Haftar wanted a meeting with Erdogan but backed down

Turkey is ready to meet and talk with General Khalifa Haftar and the speaker of the Tobruk-based parliament, Agila Saleh, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoλουlu said on Monday, indicating that the two .

Speaking to reporters in the capital Ankara, Tsavousoglu explained that Turkey does not differentiate between western and eastern Libya, contrary to popular perceptions in the media.

“Agila Saleh wanted to come to Turkey a few times. We called him, dates were set and then he came back. Haftar also wanted to come once,” he said, adding that the general had one condition, which was to meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

As Haftar has no official position, the president said it would be more appropriate if Haftar met with Tsavusoglu and Vice President Fuat Oktay, but Haftar did not accept, Chavousoglu said: “If he had come, we would have been ready to talk together. of”.

Reiterating that Turkey has worked with the legitimate Libyan government for an inclusive solution, Tsavousoglu said: “We had this understanding from the beginning, but for some reason, the eastern side was far from Turkey. They had a different agenda.”

The top Turkish diplomat reminded that Ankara is historically closer to the east of Libya and added: “Most of the Turkish origin is there. Therefore it is not possible to distinguish.”

Tsavousoglu stressed that Turkish Airlines (THY) will start flights and the Turkish embassy will reopen if the necessary conditions are created: “Our ambassador (Kenan Yilmaz) will visit the east in the coming days and hold meetings,” he said.

Petros Kranias

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