Turkey calls on int’l world to respond to Haftar in Libya

Turkey has slammed Libyan National Army (LNA) Commander Khalifa Haftar who unilaterally declared himself as the ruler of Libya and called on the international community to respond to Haftar without delay.

"Haftar, the leader of the illegitimate armed forces in eastern Libya, has declared that he does not recognize the Libyan Political Agreement endorsed by the U.N. Security Council Resolution 2259 and is taking control of the Libyan state as the commander of the so-called 'Libyan National Army'," read a statement issued by the Turkish Foreign Ministry on April 29.

"With this announcement, Haftar has once again demonstrated that he does not seek a political solution to the crisis in Libya, does not support international efforts in this regard, including the Berlin Conference Conclusions, and aims to create a military dictatorship in the country," it said.

Haftar unilaterally declared himself the ruler of Libya on April 27, claiming that he "accepted the mandate of the Libyan people" and terming the Skhirat agreement of 2015 "a thing of the past."

Haftar forces backed by Egypt and the United Arab Emirates had launched a massive attack against the Tripoli-based Government National Accord (GNA) led by Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj to capture Tripoli. As a result of an agreement between Ankara and Tripoli on the defense cooperation, Turkey had deployed troops and military equipment to protect the U.N.-recognized GNA from Haftar's attacks.

Haftar forces have intensified its attacks against the GNA in recent days in order to take advantage of the world's pre-occupation with the fight against the coronavirus.

"This person has caused further deepening of the humanitarian crisis in Libya with the indiscriminate attacks by his...