Libya’s interim prime minister, a close ally of Turkey, has been rejected by parliament in a rekindled power struggle in the war-torn country. But his replacement is no stranger to Ankara and might help it make peace with eastern Libya.

The latest political twist in Libya saw adversaries of Turkey team up with allies of Turkey to unseat interim Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, Turkey’s man in Tripoli. The House of Representatives, based in the eastern city of Tobruk, chose former Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha to form a new interim government Feb. 10 on the grounds that Dbeibeh’s mandate ended Dec. 24, when elections were supposed to be held under a UN-brokered peace plan but failed to go ahead. The Libyan National Army of eastern commander Khalifa Hifter supported Bashagha, who is expected to form a new government in two weeks.

Earlier in the week, the House of Representatives approved a road map to hold elections within 14 months. The UN Secretary-General’s special Libya adviser, Stephanie Williams, has sought to convince the parties to have the elections by June. 

Bashagha was a prominent ally of Turkey in 2019 and 2020, when Hifter’s forces, backed by Egypt, Russia and the United Arab Emirates, marched on Tripoli, and Ankara lent military support to the Government of National Accord to break the siege. But in the ensuing UN-sponsored process, in which the warring parties agreed on a new interim administration, Bashagha engaged in close dialogue with Egypt, France and the United States, shrugging off his image of “Turkey’s man.”