ANKARA,
Turkey
 |
| Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan |
Turkey is
beginning to send troops into Libya in support of the internationally
recognised government in Tripoli, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday,
days before a summit in Berlin which will address the Libyan conflict.
Speaking in
Ankara, Erdogan added that Turkey will continue to use all diplomatic and
military means to ensure stability to its south, including in Libya.
President Erdogan is due to meet leaders of
Germany, Russia, Britain and Italy on Sunday to discuss the conflict.
He also said
Turkey would start granting licenses for exploration and drilling in the
eastern Mediterranean in 2020, in accord with a maritime agreement with Libya.
“Turkey’s Oruc Reis ship would begin seismic
activities in the region.” He said.
Germany is to press ahead with a Libya peace conference on Sunday even
though talks in Moscow ended fruitlessly, with Libya’s eastern strongman Gen
Khalifa Haftar leaving without signing a ceasefire agreement to end nine months
of fighting in the country.
The German foreign ministry said leaders and
heads of state from 12 countries and four multinational organisations,
including the United Nations, had been invited to Berlin on Sunday.
The meeting
is going ahead despite a fresh outbreak of heavy gunfire in Tripoli and reports
that one of Haftar’s chief backers – the United Arab Emirates – was resupplying
Haftar forces. Haftar was flanked at the Moscow talks by advisers from the UAE.
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