Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, in his answer to press questions on Wednesday, after evaluating the performance of his ministry during the year 2020, according to what was reported by the Turkish Anadolu Agency, made clear that communication with Egypt at the level of their intelligence ministries was continuing. He said this was to strengthen bilateral relations and dialogue was according to the principle of non-conflict in international forums.
The Turkish Foreign Minister also revealed that it was in touch with Aguila Saleh. He said, “Turkey is communicating with the eastern side in Libya. The Special Representative of the Speaker of Tobruk Parliament visited Turkey, and before that, the Speaker of Tobruk Parliament, Aguila Saleh, intended to send his deputy to Turkey, but this visit did not take place.”
Çavuşoğlu did not disclose the name of the envoy who visited Turkey, but the Islamist February Channel, which is close to Turkish intelligence and broadcasts from Istanbul, said the special envoy was Abdel Basit al-Badri, the former ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It also said that al-Badri offered to establish relations between Aguila Saleh and the Turks on condition that they support Saleh in his bid to lead the new Presidential Council.
On the relationship between Turkey and Egypt, Çavuşoğlu added: “Communication between the two countries is also taking place through their representations in Ankara and Cairo,” noting that he met his Egyptian counterpart last year at international meetings, and that both stressed the need to work on a roadmap on relations between the two countries. The comments by Çavuşoğlu were surprisingly made a day after he threatened that no one could demand Turkey to leave Libya, not even a new legitimate Libyan government. Çavuşoğlu’s comments were met with deep anger in Libyan circles.
On the recent visit of the Egyptian delegation to Libya, Çavuşoğlu explained that Cairo sent a delegation to Libya after a long time, and that this visit was not related to the visit of Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar to Libya.
He continued, “It is not possible for Egypt to have prior knowledge of the Turkish defense minister’s visit to Libya. It is natural for the events in Libya to affect its neighbor, Egypt, similar to how Turkey is affected by developments in Syria and Iraq.”
Source : Al Marsad
