Turkey urges powers backing Haftar to rethink support for the warlord

Turkey on Tuesday called on all powers supporting Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar to "rethink their position and invest" in the Libyan government.

"Thanks to Turkey’s support for the legitimate government of Libya, the destabilising and illegitimate Haftar forces are losing ground in Libya. All those powers supporting Haftar must rethink their position and invest in the legitimate government for peace and stability," Fahrettin Altun, Turkey’s communications director, said on Twitter.

Under the guidance of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Altun said Turkey is "a capable country that can pursue terrorists in Syria and Iraq while supporting our brothers and sisters in Libya simultaneously."

The Libyan army has recently made gains against Haftar's militias, which are supported by France, Russia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt.

The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), in a statement on Thursday, urged the two sides to "immediately halt all military operations and resume the 5+5 Joint Military Commission talks –– on a virtual basis, if needed" because of the coronavirus.

A military commission composed of five GNA members and five Haftar members held talks in February but the dialogue was suspended.

A January truce brokered by Turkey and Russia has been repeatedly violated.

Following the ouster of late ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Libya's government was founded in 2015 under a UN-led political deal. Since April 2019, the government has been under attack by Haftar's militia, based in eastern Libya, and more than 1,000 people have been killed in the violence.