US President Donald Trump reaches to Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan
during a joint news conference at the White House in Washington on
November 13, 2019. PHOTO | REUTERS
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said he discussed the conflict
in Libya with US President Donald Trump in a phone call on Monday and
that the two leaders agreed on “some issues” related to
developments there.
developments there.
Turkey supports the internationally recognised
government of Fayez al Serraj, whose forces have in recent weeks driven
back an assault on the capital Tripoli by the forces of Khalifa Haftar,
backed by the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Russia.
“A
new era between Turkey and the US may start after our phone call. We
agreed on some issues,” Erdogan said in an interview with state
broadcaster TRT, without offering specifics.
A White
House statement said Trump and Erdogan discussed the war in the north
African country, as well as Syria and the wider eastern Mediterranean
region, but gave no details.
Egypt had called for a
ceasefire starting on Monday, as part of an initiative which also
proposed an elected leadership council for Libya. Haftar’s other
supporters, Russia and the UAE, also welcomed the proposal.
But
Erdogan, whose support for Serraj’s Government of National Accord (GNA)
helped change the course of the war, said the GNA would continue
fighting to seize the coastal city of Sirte and the Jufra air base
further south, in a strategic region of the oil exporting country.
“Now the goal is to take over the whole Sirte area and get it
done. These are areas with the oil wells, these are of great
importance,” he said.
Erdogan said he would also
discuss Moscow’s role in Libya with President Vladimir Putin, including
what he said was the supply of Russian planes and Pantsir air defences
to Haftar’s forces.
“They have Pantsirs there, they sent 19 warplanes to Libya,” Erdogan said. “After talking with him, we can plan ahead.”
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