Although Turkey has pursued seemingly strange and inconsistent policies toward Libya since 2010, commercial and economic interests have taken over the Turkish approach to the North African nation.

In the aftermath of the Mavi Marmara crisis between Turkey and Israel in May 2010, Libya, then holding the presidency of the United Nations Security Council, issued a statement in support of Turkey. In November that year, Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi awarded Recep Tayyip Erdogan, then Turkey's prime minister, with Gadhafi's famed “human rights” prize.

When the Arab Spring reached Libya in early 2011 and a popular uprising against Gadhafi turned into a bloody revolution, Erdogan first tried to hold back his NATO allies from intervening against Gadhafi. “Can there be such nonsense? What business does NATO have in Libya? As Turkey, we say we oppose this; it cannot be talked about, it cannot be debated,” Erdogan told an audience in Hamburg, Germany, in late February 2011.

But as Ankara’s Western allies began pounding Gadhafi’s forces in mid-March, the Turkish prime minister had a change of heart. On March 21, 2011, Erdogan uttered one of the most nonsensical statements in his political career: “NATO must enter [Libya] to establish and record that Libya belongs to Libyans.” The Turkish military soon joined the UN-sanctioned blockade against Gadhafi, which led to his eventual overthrow.