Turkish Opposition Leader: We Refuse to Send our Soldiers to Libya

Turkey’s main opposition Republican People's Party leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu confirmed his refusal to send Turkish troops to Libya, noting that his party members would stand against passing a bill of sending troops to Libya.

Kılıçdaroğlu added that these foreign policies could harm Turkey, according to Turkish newspaper "Zaman" website.

Kılıçdaroğlu noted:  “We do not want the blood of our soldiers to flow on the Arab deserts,” asking: “What is the reason behind sending our soldiers to be martyrs on the deserts of the Arabs!," according to Al Arabia TV channel.

Defiant to international law, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu announced that his country is speeding up the procedures to deploy troops in Libya, claiming that this could prevent Libya from slipping into chaos.

The minister’s  statement came as Al-Wefaq government, led by Fayez Al-Sarraj, supported by armed militias in Tripoli, is facing difficulties in battles against the Libyan National Army led by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, which recently launched a “decisive operation” to liberate the capital from the terrorist militias supporting the Al- Saraj government.

Last month, Ankara signed a MOU with Al-Sarraj government, one on security and military cooperation and the other on maritime borders in the eastern Mediterranean, which the Libyan parliament has questioned its legitimacy.

Meanwhile, media in Turkey has revealed intense domestic opposition to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s plans to deploy troops in Libya.