Russian-Turkish Involvement in the Civil War in Libya

Year 2020, Issue: 3, 190 - 215, 30.06.2020

Gökhan Tekir

Abstract

After the ouster of Muammar Gaddafi, Libya plunged into a civil war. Two main competing governments emerged for control over Libya: Tobruk based Libyan National Army (LNA) led by Marshal Khalifa Haftar and Tripoli based Government of National Accord (GNA) led by the Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj. This civil war invited other countries’ involvement such as Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), France, Russia, and Turkey. Khalifa Haftar’s offensive, which started in April 2019, to capture Tripoli intensified the conflict. Fighting already in opposite sides on the civil war in Syria, Russia and Turkey also backed opposite sides of the civil war in Libya. Russia covertly provides assistance to Haftar’s army by conducting its operations in Libya under the private military group Wagner owned by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a businessman affiliated with Vladimir Putin. This indicates Russia’s efforts to hide its support to Khalifa Haftar to maintain its role as a peace broker in the civil war. Turkey openly supports al-Sarraj government by sending military advisors and involving directly in the conflict with its deployment of Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle (UCAV). Turkey, therefore, has a clear position in Libya. It signed a military cooperation with al-Sarraj government, which allows Turkey to send its military at the GNA’s request. Moreover, it signed a maritime agreement with the GNA, which determined the exclusive economic zones of two countries in the Eastern Mediterranean. Thus, it closed any possibility of compromising with Khalifa Haftar, to whom it condemned as a vicious war lord. In this context, the security and energy dimensions of Russian and Turkish involvement will be mentioned. This paper tries to analyze Russian and Turkish positions in Libya, discussing the reasons why Russia and Turkey interfered in the civil war in Libya and offered their support to different parties.

Keywords

Russia, Turkey, Libya, civil war, Khalifa Haftar, Fayez al-Sarraj

Libya’daki İç Savaşa Rus ve Türk Müdahelesi

Abstract

Muammer Kaddafi’nin devrilmesinden sonra Libya iç savaşa sürüklendi. İki rakip hükümet Libya’nın kontrolü için ortaya çıktı: Mareşal Halife Haftar’ın liderliğini yaptığı Tobruk merkezli Libya Ulusal Ordusu (LUO) ve Başbakan Fayez Sarraj’ın liderliğindeki Trablus merkezli Ulusal Mutabakat Hükümeti (UMH). Bu iç savaş Mısır, Birleşik Arap Emirlikleri (BAE), Fransa, Rusya ve Türkiye gibi ülkeleri de içine aldı. Halife Haftar 2019 Nisan’ından itibaren Trablus’u ele geçirmek amacıyla başlattığı hücum hareketlerini yoğunlaştırdı. Suriye iç savaşında farklı taraflarda olan Rusya ve Türkiye Libya’da da farklı tarafları desteklemektedir. Rusya, Putin’in yakın çevresinden işadamı Yevgeny Prigozhin’in sahibi olduğu özel askeri şirket Wagner üzerinden yürüttüğü operasyonlarla Haftar’ın ordusuna üstü kapalı olarak yardımda bulunmaktadır. Bu durum, Rusya’nın iç savaştaki barış yapıcı rolünü muhafaza için Halife Haftar’ı gizlice desteklediğini göstermektedir. Türkiye gönderdiği askeri danışmanlarla ve Silahlı İnsansız Hava Araçları (SİHA) ile çatışmaya direk müdahil olarak açıkça Sarraj hükümetine destek vermektedir. Türkiye böylece Libya’da daha açık bir poziyon almıştır. Sarraj hükümetiyle UMH’nin istemesi halinde Türkiye’nin asker göndermesine olanak veren bir askeri anlaşma imzalamıştır. Ayrıca Türkiye UMH ile Doğu Akdeniz’de iki ülkenin münhasır ekonomik bölge alanlarını belirleyen bir deniz sınırı anlaşması imzalamıştır. Böylece, Türkiye, vahşi bir savaş beyi olarak nitelendirdiği Halife Haftar ile müzakere yolunu kapatmıştır. Bu bağlamda Rus ve Türk müdahelesinin enerji ve güvenlik boyutlarından bahsedilecektir. Bu çalışma Rusya ve Türkiye’nin Libya’daki pozisyonlarını, Rusya ve Türkiye’nin Libya’daki iç savaşa dahil olma nedenlerini ve Libya’da taraf seçiminde belirleyici unsurları tartışarak analiz etmeye çalışmaktadır.

Keywords

: Rusya, Türkiye, Libya, iç savaş, Halife Haftar, Fayez Sarraj

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