Abstract
The Turkish parliament on January 2, 2020, authorized to give President Recep Tayyip Erdogan approval to send Turkish troops to Libya to support the Government of National Accord against the military groups loyal to Khalifa Haftar. This approval came following the GNA’s request from the Turkish government on April 4, 2019, to intervene to support it, based on the two memorandums of understanding signed between the two parties.
The Turkish naval forces on July 7, 2020, announced the exercise of naval drills in international waters near the Libyan coast, and called it “Navtex”. Turkish newspaper Yeni Safak stated that the drills will be exercised with the participation of 17 warplanes and eight naval vessels. It seemed that Ankara seeks through these drills to protect its interests in the Libyan file and North Africa.
The Egyptian position from Turkish intervention in Libya:
Following the Turkish parliament’s approval of military intervention in Libya, the Egyptian Government on January 2, 2020, released a statement emphasizing that the Turkish parliament had broken the international law and that any Turkish military intervention in the region would negatively affect the stability in the middle east, and would especially threaten the Egyptian national security.
On June 9, 2020, Egypt announced it would conduct military drills in the Mediterranean sea dubbed as “HASM- 2020”, these drills came as a counteraction following Turkey’s operations in the region. Egyptian Armed forces commenced the military exercise with the attendance of Egyptian Navy and Air Forces, and the Egyptian Minister of Defense and Military Production Mohamed Zaki attended it.
Would Egypt Militarily intervene in Libya?
Egyptian Parliament Speaker Ali Abdel Aal stated that Egypt would prefer diplomatic solutions before seeking military solutions, however, it would not allow anyone to trespass its borders and threaten its national security. This means that Egypt is likely to seek military intervention if it senses that Turkey threatens its national security, based on Egypt’s perspective that Turkey came with the intent of confrontation and that Egypt did not choose this option solely.