Turkish parliament to vote today on sending troops to Libya

Turkey’s parliament will vote today on whether to send troops to Libya to back the UN-supported government in Tripoli.

Parliament is expected to approve the motion at the emergency session called for later in the day, and grant a one-year mandate for the deployment. 

There are widespread concerns that Turkish forces could in fact aggravate Libya’s conflict further and destabilise the region.

The Tripoli-based government of Libyan prime minister, Fayez al-Sarraj, has faced an offensive by the rival, east-based government and commander Gen Khalifa Haftar.

Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said last month that Sarraj requested the Turkish deployment, after they signed a military deal that allows Ankara to dispatch military experts and personnel to Libya.

That deal, along with a separate agreement on maritime boundaries between Turkey and Libya, has displeased many across the region and beyond.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) has denounced, at the end of the year, Turkish operations of transporting fighters from Syria to Libya.

Citing very reliable sources, SOHR said that the number of fighters who arrived in the Libyan capital Tripoli, has reached 300. Meanwhile, the number of conscripts who arrived in Turkish camps in order to receive training courses ranges between 900 to 1000, SOHR noted.