Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan meets reporters at Atatuk Airport in Istanbul, Turkey, before departing for Berlin to attend an international conference on Libya, Jan. 19, 2020. (Ihlas News Agency/Handout via Xinhua)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday blamed the international community for not showing immediate response against the ongoing civil war in Libya.
“The reckless actions of (Khalifa) Haftar and his supporters, which publicly violated the UN Security Council resolutions, have long been neglected,” Erdogan told reporters at the Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, before departing for Berlin to attend an international conference on Libya.
Libya has been torn by a raging civil war between the UN-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) and the Libyan National Army led by Haftar.
The Berlin conference will be joined by envoys from the United States, Russia, Britain, France, China, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Republic of the Congo, Italy, Egypt and Algeria, as well as the representatives of the United Nations, the European Union, the African Union and the Arab League.
The participants will discuss the ways to end the civil war in Libya, with a hope to convince the warring parties of the need for a sustainable truce.
When asked about the exclusion of Greece from the peace talks in Berlin, Erdogan said Athens is in “serious discomfort” for not being invited.
On Friday, Haftar had talks with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias during his unexpected visit to Athens.
“Haftar's talks in Greece have no value,” Erdogan remarked.
The previous cease-fire talks on Libya in Russia's capital Moscow failed to achieve a resolution after Haftar left without signing the deal.