African website: Turkey to support Bashagha in Libya… Did Erdogan abandon Dbeibeh?

After years of supporting the outgoing head of Libya’s Government of National Accord, Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, and his predecessor, Fayez al-Sarraj, with mercenaries and smuggled weapons, Turkey is moving to support his successor, Fathi Bashagha, who was tasked by the Libyan House of Representatives in Tobruk to form a government last February.

Africa Intelligence website revealed growing Turkish discontent with the hard line taken by the outgoing Dbeibeh under the Skhirat Agreement, pointing to Ankara’s tendency to abandon it and support its rival Fathi Bashagha.

The website attributed the change in the Turkish position to a secret visit Bashagha made with a number of his deputies and members of his government to Ankara on April 30th, during which he met with the Turkish Intelligence Chief Hakan Fidan and the Turkish President’s National Security Advisor Ibrahim Kalin.

Bashagha is counting on changing the Turkish position in his favor to support efforts to enter the capital Tripoli and take over after the situation became tense and the dispute with Debbie who refuses to hand over power intensified, the website said, noting that Recep Tayyip Erdogan has become increasingly uncomfortable with Dbeibeh’s hard-line line.

Turkey’s attitude toward the Libyan crisis has changed markedly with the opening to the House of Representatives and improved relations with regional actors on the Libyan file, particularly Egypt, which considers the Libyan House of Representatives the only elected body in Libya and continues to maintain a declared military presence in the west of the country.