Benghazi— In a sign of what appears to be a deepening rapprochement between the Libyan National Army (LNA) and Turkey’s navy, the warship (TCG Kınalıada) docked in Benghazi port on Sunday for the first time, carrying high-level naval and political delegation.
The recently appointed LNA’s Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Saddam Haftar, welcomed the delegation and both held discussions about military and naval cooperation and the exchange of technical expertise, according to a statement by the LNA.
The Turkish delegation was headed by Ambassador Guven Begec and included the Director General of the Ministry of National Defense, Lieutenant General İlkay Altindag, along with Serkan Karmanlioglu, Türkiye’s consul in Benghazi.
The meetings took place first at the LNA’s headquarters after which they were moved aboard the warship, where the Deputy Commander-in-Chief toured vessel and inspected its advanced equipment and capabilities.
“This visit affirms the deep historical relations between the Libyan and Turkish naval forces and the shared commitment to developing them to serve regional security and stability,” the LNA’s statement said.
In April Saddam Haftar in his capacity as Commander of the LNA Land Forces made an official visit to Ankara where he held meetings with the Turkish Minister of Defense and the Chief of General Staff of the Turkish army.
On 17 August, the same warship visited the port of Tripoli and was received by the Turkish Ambassador to Libya. The TCG Kınalıada had previously visited the port of Khoms on November 17, 2023, as a part of demonstrating Turkish military presence as well as political influence in western Libya,.
In the recent past, the relations between Ankara and the authorities in eastern Libya have been rather of a hostile nature since 2014 that culminated into direct conflict between the LNA and Turkish-supported armed groups in Tripoli in 2019 and 2020.
In March 2021, the LNA allowed Turkish merchant ships to enter ports in eastern Libya after many years of being off limits.
Currently, economic and political relations between Benghazi and Ankara are growing fast, especially as the latter is coming into terms of allowing the Libyan people to establish a unity government and curtailing its interfering internal affairs of the country.
