Turkey's intel chief hosts Libya delegation amid unification push: What to know
The visit by Libya’s high-level delegation came as US-led efforts gathered pace to broker a power-sharing arrangement between the country’s rival camps.
ANKARA — The head of the Turkish National Intelligence Organization, Ibrahim Kalin, met senior Libyan officials in Ankara as Turkey stepped up efforts to help bridge the divide between Libya’s rival eastern and western administrations.
What happened: The meeting came during a visit by a high-level Libyan delegation that included Government of National Unity Deputy Defense Minister Abdulsalam al-Zoubi, national security adviser Ibrahim Dbeibeh and Interior Minister Emad Trabelsi. The officials held separate talks with Kalin and Turkish Interior Minister Mustafa Ciftci, as well as Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.
The discussions covered developments in Libya and the wider region, steps to deepen Turkish-Libyan cooperation and ongoing efforts to preserve stability in the country, according to Turkey’s public broadcaster TRT.
Kalin said Turkey would continue supporting Libya’s territorial and political unity, including efforts to bring the country’s eastern and western administrations together under a single national framework, TRT reported.
Background: The visit by the high-level Libyan delegation comes amid intensifying US-led efforts to bring the country’s rival authorities under a single power-sharing arrangement.
Libya remains divided between Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah’s UN-recognized government in Tripoli and eastern authorities under de facto control of Khalifa Hifter, whose Libyan National Army controls much of the east and south.
Massad Boulos, President Donald Trump’s senior adviser on Arab and African affairs, shuttled between Libya’s rival camps throughout July, meeting representatives of both sides in Malta on July 6, Dbeibah in Tripoli the following day and Hifter in Benghazi on July 8, before holding a follow-up call with Dbeibah on July 27. He also met a range of Libyan political, military and economic figures during the tour.
Under the widely reported US proposal, Dbeibah, or potentially a close relative, would retain the premiership, while Hifter's son Saddam would head a new presidential or executive council.
Critics say the arrangement would institutionalize power-sharing between the Dbeibah and Hifter families rather than create an inclusive political transition or a clear path toward elections.
The latest push builds on a US-backed economic agreement reached on April 11, when Libya’s eastern and western authorities approved a unified public spending framework for 2026.
The agreement, covering nearly 190 billion Libyan dinars, was the first nationwide spending accord between the rival administrations since 2013 and was presented by Washington as an initial step toward unifying Libya’s state institutions.
Why it matters: NATO member Turkey, which was the main backer of Tripoli-based forces against Hifter’s Libyan National Army until the 2020 ceasefire, has since begun courting Libya’s eastern authorities in a bid to preserve its influence in the North African country and safeguard its economic and security interests.
Topping the list is a controversial maritime agreement Turkey signed with the Tripoli government in 2019. Libya’s eastern-based parliament began discussing its potential approval in June last year, but has yet to ratify the deal. The agreement redrew maritime boundaries between Turkey and Libya, allowing Ankara to assert rights over potentially energy-rich waters. Greece vehemently rejects the accord, arguing that it encroaches on its maritime boundaries.
Turkey’s rapprochement with Benghazi is partly aimed at persuading the eastern-based parliament to ratify the maritime deal, while a broader political unification process could give the agreement greater legitimacy across Libya.
