Turkey says fully prepared to send troops to Libya

Ankara, Dec 28 (IANS) Turkey is fully prepared to deploy its armed forces in Libya as required, the country's Defence Ministry has announced. "The Turkish soldiers are ready to serve their duties in and outside Turkey," the Ministry's Spokeswoman Nadide Sebnem Aktop was quoted as saying by semi-official Anadolu Agency on Friday. On Thursday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had said that Turkey would militarily support the Libyan UN-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) upon the latter's request, in order to fight Libya's east-based army led by Khalifa Haftar. On November 27, Ankara and the Tripoli-based GNA signed two separate agreements, one on military cooperation and the other on maritime boundaries of the two countries in the Eastern Mediterranean. Since the ouster of the former leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Libya has been politically divided between two powers, one in eastern Libya and the GNA in the capital Tripoli. Haftar recently declared the launch of the final military campaign to take over the capital Tripoli.
--IANS vin