MHP voices support for government’s Libya policy

ANKARA

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli on Jan. 14 voiced support for the government’s foreign policy in Libya, saying the matter carries importance for the region’s future.

“The plans to corner and surround our country in the eastern Mediterranean was chucked out with the Libya agreement, and a new geostrategic balance emerged. That’s why countries that support the Tobruk-based [military commander Khalifa] Haftar, queued up to destroy the legitimate and recognized Government of National Accord [GNA],” Bahçeli said.

The MHP leader’s remarks came during the parliamentary group meeting of his party. Bahçeli, who was struggling with respiratory health issues, led the MHP’s meeting for the first time in six months. The MHP was not holding a parliamentary group meeting during this period.

Bahçeli praised the memoranda of understanding (MoU) Turkey brokered with Libya on Nov. 27 and said that the parliament’s ratification “enraged” opposition parties.

“What are those, failing to defend Turkey’s interests, historical rights and sovereign interests, trying to tell us?” he said.

He also accused the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), İYİ (Good) Party and Felicity Party (SP) of acting “wretched” by reacting and said they “do not abide to impositions and enforcements” regarding Turkey’s maritime jurisdiction in the Mediterranean.

“How will this approach coincide with patriotism,” he said.

On Nov. 27, Ankara and Tripoli signed two separate MoUs, one on military cooperation and the other on maritime boundaries of countries in the eastern Mediterranean.

The maritime pact asserted Turkey’s rights in the eastern Mediterranean in the face of unilateral drilling by the Greek Cypriot administration, clarifying that Turkish Cyprus also has rights to the resources in the area. It went into effect on Dec. 8.

The Turkish Parliament on Dec. 21 ratified a motion on the approval of an MoU on security and military cooperation with Libya.