The Turkish Defense Ministry on Wednesday highlighted Ankara’s adherence to the principle of “One Army, One Libya” after a landmark military exercise in the North African country.
“Türkiye supports the peaceful, stable existence of Libya, whose east and west act in unity,” the ministry said.
Ankara has long been a supporter of internationally recognized western administration in Libya but courted the east in recent years in its bid to support stability in the country, which still lacks unity.
Forces from the east and west-based administrations were joined by military elements from Türkiye and the U.S. earlier this month for exercises in Sirte in the first such joint event since 2014. That year, Libya was divided between forces that took part in the ouster of the Moammar Gadhafi regime. Tensions have cooled considerably since then, and the two sides recently agreed to the first unified budget in more than a decade to determine how to spend the billions of dollars of oil revenues the country earns each year. The “Flintlock” special operations exercises, run by the United States Africa Command, known as AFRICOM, included forces from both the military commander Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) and the U.N.-recognized Government of National Unity, which is based in Tripoli.
The Defense Ministry said on Wednesday that the Flintlock exercises demonstrated strong support by participating countries to Libya’s sovereignty and independence and contributed to the country’s ability for joint operations. The ministry also highlighted that their priority was preservation of stability, calm and balance based on the broadest dialogue and compromise in Libya.
The ministry said Türkiye always supported United Nations-led processes in Libya and maintained contacts with “all sides.” It noted Türkiye trained more than 23,000 Libyan military personnel, both in Türkiye and Libya, and was continuing to support Libya in several fields, from demining to defusal of unexploded ordnance, counterterrorism, the fight against irregular migration and smuggling.
