How has Russia forced Turkey to compromise on Libya?
The July 22 Turkish-Russian joint statement on Libya shows Moscow has succeeded in forcing Ankara to compromise.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is no visionary, and his Libyan policy may well carry the high risk of a miscalculation leading to a dangerous military confrontation with Egypt.
According to one of the four experts who spoke at “The Fight for Libya" webinar organized July 22 by a United Arab Emirates-based think tank, this has been the recurring theme. The webinar was held on the same day as the announcement of the Turkish-Russian joint statement on Libya, which some consider a slap at Ankara's Libya policy.
It was only two days after the Egyptian parliament authorized military intervention in Libya. There was speculation that Turkish-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) forces were about to launch an attack on Egypt and the UAE-backed Khalifa Hifter forces to seize control of Sirte province and al-Jufra air base.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi declared the two strategic locations a month ago to be Egypt's "red line." Sirte, the hometown of late Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi, stands out as a door opening to Libya’s oil-rich regions lying between Tripoli and Benghazi.
