The Turkish leadership has long been devising plans of its participation in the Libyan conflict. The ongoing weapons, military hardware supplies to the militants by air and sea that have been cynically hiding behind medical aid to fight Coronavirus in Libya confirm this fact.
Turkey realizes that the military presence in the region will allow it to become a full-fledged member of the Mediterranean agenda. However, the Government of National Accord, led by Fayez Sarraj, continues losing territories, so Turkey tries to speed up the implementation of its purposes.
Initially, Recep Tayyip Erdogan unofficially supported GNA and its struggle against Khalifa Haftar. But after the agreement reached between Ankara and Tripoli in November 2019, Turkey decided to play open.
According to the Turkish-Libyan agreement, Turkey’s borders are demarcated through an area that ignores the continental shelves of Cyprus, and the Greek Islands of Rhodes, Kastellorizo, Karpathos, Kasos, as well as the eastern part of Crete.
In fact, Turkey occupies the Mediterranean Sea with its natural resources from its borders to the Libyan ones. This step seriously impedes the agreement between Greece, Israel, and Cyprus on constructing 1,900 km EastMed pipeline, directly connecting East Mediterranean energy resources to mainland Greece via Cyprus and Crete.
The Turkish attitude is alarming not only the EU but also the U.S leadership. Earlier in 2019, Washington lifted the arms embargo on Cyprus and also concluded a treaty on the deployment of military bases, the modernization of F-16 fighter aircrafts, and the purchase of new F-35 jets.
In response, Turkey continued to increase its military power in the region. This is evidenced by the adoption of the Multipurpose Amphibious Assault Ship “Anadolu” for service in 2020 and designing of six Type-214 submarines. At the same time, Ankara set up a military base on the territory of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, where the latest Turkish strikes UAVs “Bayraktar” are deployed.
The use of force for solvation of regional issues pushes Ankara to the ideological justification of its foreign policy, in particular in Libya. Currently, the “Blue Motherland” concept is actively being popularized within the country. According to its thesis, Turkey historically has a right to pretend to the vast territories of the Aegean and Mediterranean seas.
