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Political missteps in Libya cause Turkey's economy to stumble

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the AKP government's backing of the Muslim Brotherhood in Libya is inflicting billions of dollars of economic losses on Turkey and eroding its political influence in Libya and Saharan Africa.
Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan speaks to the Libyan people on the 80th anniversary of the martyrdom of Libyan resistance hero Omar al-Mukhtar, near the shrine of his burial place in Benghazi September 16, 2011. Hundreds of Libyans joined Erdogan in prayer on Friday in Tripoli, heaping praise on him for backing the revolt against Muammar Gaddafi. The Turkish prime minister, who is promoting Ankara's blend of Islam and democracy as a model for North African states, hailed Libya's revolution by invokin

Turkey is on the verge of losing Libya after Egypt. We are facing dwindling access to North Africa and Saharan Africa.

How can we forget Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister of a NATO member, reacting to NATO plans to intervene in Libya with, “What does NATO have to do in Libya?” But Erdogan quickly reversed himself and became a supporter of the NATO operation and embraced the opposition of Libyan ruler Moammar Gadhafi, who had not long before awarded him the “Gadhafi Prize for Human Rights."

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