'If ceasefire holds, Turkey may freeze plans to send troops to Libya'

Duvar English

Journalist Murat Yetkin in his last piece analyzed the joint statement calling on fighting parties in Libya to a ceasefire as of midnight Jan. 12, which was put out after the meeting between Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Istanbul on Wednesday. Yetkin said that the proposal for a ceasefire in Libya somehow resembles the ceasefire deal in Syria, where Turkey acknowledged its support to the forces against Syria’s UN-recognized President Bashar Al-Assad, excluding terrorist groups like ISIS and Al-Qaeda, which are recognized as such by the UN, and of course the PKK/PYD which Ankara considers as a threat to Turkey’s national security.

" If the ceasefire holds, that may freeze the debates about Turkey sending troops to Libya or Turkey-backed militias in Syria going to Libya to fight alongside Sarraj forces," Yetkin wrote.

Reminding of the Jan. 6 phone call between Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Turkish intelligence (MİT) chief Hakan Fidan, Yetkin told both the call and parallel efforts of foreign ministers of both countries played a key role in setting the foundations of the ceasefire proposal.

"No one will be surprised if a deal is reached between Turkey and Russia (and indirectly between Turkey and Syria) on Idlib, once the ceasefire deal holds in Libya," he further argued.  

Murat Yetkin's piece in full can be reached here.