Libya’s foreign minister has repeatedly called for foreign troops and mercenaries to leave the country. The latest call from the country’s first female foreign minister, Najla al-Mangoush, came in a press briefing with her Turkish counterpart who visited Tripoli May 3. Mangoush said she wants Turkey to cooperate with Libya to end “the presence of all foreign forces and mercenaries” on Libyan soil. She concluded her comments by saying that such a step would “preserve” Libya’s sovereignty.

However, her guest had a different view of the subject. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu did not directly address the issue at hand; instead, he appeared to be questioning who should leave Libya in the first place. Cavusoglu said it was wrong to equate the Turkish military presence in Libya with that of “illegitimate groups," he said. He noted that his country sent troops to help defend Tripoli. The two ministers ended their private meeting discussing the matter, but they appeared to disagree publicly.

In November 2019, Tripoli’s previous government signed a security memorandum with Ankara. Neither sides have, so far, disclosed the details of the deal but, essentially, it granted Turkey the right to send professional troops to Libya for training and other tasks. The Turkish parliament, on Jan. 2, 2020, voted to allow the military deployment of troops in the North African country. However, Ankara did not only send regular troops but thousands of Syrian fighters from a pool of mercenaries available to Ankara from among different Turkey-loyal Syrian armed groups.

The US Defense Department estimated that Ankara sent more than 3,500 Syrian fighters to Libya. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights estimated that by September 2020 at least 15,000 Syrian fighters were in Libya. Notably though, Mangoush, in her many statements on the issue, never actually uttered the words that “Turkish troops” should leave, too.