ISTANBUL – ANSWER. A few minutes after he left Nikos Dendias from Tripoli, representative of the Government of National Unity of Libya, Mohammad Hamudhastened to make a statement to the Turkish state agency Anatoly, saying that Chargé d’Affaires of Greece in Tripoli was summoned to the Foreign Office and that it was also decided to recall the Libyan Charge d’Affaires in Athens for consultations. This reaction through a Turkish state agency is a small example of the close relationship built Tripoli government With Anchor.

Since 2019, the Erdogan government has signed Turkish-Libyan memorandum with the government of Tripoli and then with Prime Minister Fayez Al Sarraj. But also in the defense sector, it has an official presence in Libya, training and equipping the country’s armed forces. A few weeks ago, Turkish cabinet ministers traveled to Libya to sign new agreements on exploration and drilling in the Libyan land and sea areas, as well as on the further development of defense relations between the two sides. Among the ministers who were in Tripoli was the Turkish Foreign Minister. Mevlut Cavusoglu, Defense Minister Hulusi Akar and Energy Minister Fatih Domez. Libyan Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeiba, like his predecessor, Mr. Sarraj, Foreign Minister Najla El Mangus, as well as many members of the Tripoli government, visit Turkey very often, sometimes unofficially, and are strongly supported by the Turkish government.

Turkey sees its close relationship with the Tripoli government as an important counterbalance to Greece’s presence in the Eastern Mediterranean.

According to political analysts, Ankara sees Libya as a country that, with its natural gas deposits, could contribute to Turkey’s energy independence. Also politically, the close relationship with the Tripoli government is seen as an important counterbalance to the rights claimed by Greece in the Eastern Mediterranean. However, Egypt has stopped diplomatic efforts to rapprochement with Turkey due to the ongoing and growing Turkish military presence in Libya.

Meanwhile, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in an interview with reporters, mentioned his meetings with Joe Biden at the G20 summit. “Mr. Biden told me that the work is completely in his hands, he is sensitive to the F-16 problem. By closely following this process of our foreign and defense ministers, I hope that we will resolve the F-16 issue with this capability within a short period of time,” he said.

Journalists asked Mr. Erdogan if he reacted in a meeting with Emmanuel Macron to the French President’s statements about Turkey. “I just told him: “Emmanuel, you are disturbing me in places, we have already spoken before.” He said, “No, no, we’re fine.” The Turkish President stressed that he wants to have relations with France and Italy in the defense sector, mainly on the issue of the SAMP-T anti-aircraft system.