Contemporary Turkish Economic Interests in Libya and their ‎Impact on its Foreign Policy

Abstract

The paper communicates the Turkish economic interests in Libya according to its new strategy, as well as its impact on its foreign policy with the Arab countries. The conduct of interests relies on the descriptive historical method to get the analytical one. The Turkish government has been able to develop its strategy in light of the events in the Middle East region on the basis of the principle of zero crises and resolving them through political dialogue. Due to its policy which has angered many regional countries, especially the Arab countries, which opposed their ambitions and stood against them, after exploiting the Libyan crisis in 2011 to their advantage. In addition to that, the Turkish government has taken the Libyan land as a starting base towards its goals that were set in its strategy in order to control navigation in the Mediterranean Sea to impose its will. Its latest agreement with the Libyan government, for the demarcation of the maritime borders on the 27th of October 2019, was considered the means in terms of the political and legal cover. After souring its relations with Egypt and Greece, Turkey adopted political Islam as a cover for its project in the region. It also assisted financially and logistically the Islamic forces in order to be able to reach power particularly in Libya. So, it gained an important foothold in the eastern Mediterranean and North Africa in order to obtain economic gains and offset its losses, which were estimated in the hundreds of billions of dollars. As a result of the change of the Gaddafi regime as a result of the events of the Arab Spring in 2011 and the resulting change in a number of Arab countries' systems.