Libyan parliament speaker Aqila Saleh addresses Egypt’s parliament on Turkish aggression
Gamal Essam El-Din, , Sunday 12 Jan 2020
Saleh described Turkey’s President Recep Tayyib Erdogan as a fascist dictator who has committed many crimes against the Arabs in Syria and Libya





Egypt's parliament held one-hour session Sunday morning to discuss political and military developments in neighbouring Libya.



Speaker of the Libyan House of Representatives Aqila Saleh, who was invited to address the session, offered warm thanks to Egypt “for its clear-cut support of the Libyan National Army in fighting terrorism and confronting foreign meddling in the internal affairs of Libya.”



Aqila, who sat beside Egypt’s parliament speaker, Ali Abdel-Aal, on the main podium is currently in Cairo to also attend the Arab parliament’s meeting scheduled in Cairo Wednesday to discuss developments in Libya and Iraq.



Abdel-Aal said: “It is a great pleasure and honour for us, we Egyptian MPs, that my brother Aqila Saleh, speaker of the Libyan House of Representatives, attend this plenary session to address us on developments in Libya and let me confirm that we declare our full support for Libya against foreign intervention and against terrorist organisations and militias that threaten the national security of Libya and Egypt.”



“As all know, Egyptian-Libyan relations are closely related in terms of political and social aspects and mutual interests,” Abdel-Aal added, indicating that “as a result, we are keen that we keep coordination with Libyan officials at all levels all the time, because this is a matter of supreme importance to Egypt’s national security.”



Abdel-Aal continued: “Let me also seize this occasion to send some messages. First, Egypt is keen that Libyans reach a political solution that can pave the way for Libya’s stability, unity, sovereignty and integrity of its land,” adding that, “In this context we reject all forms of illegitimate foreign interference in Libya’s internal affairs, especially as this interference comes from foreign forces which have no geographical or linguistic ties with Libya, but all they seek is to plunder the wealth and riches of the Libyan people.”



Second, Abdel-Aal said the two memorandums of understanding signed between Turkey and Libya’s Fayez El-Serraj in November 2019 represent a stark violation of international law, UN Security Council resolutions, and the Skhirat Agreement. “This agreement lead to undermining regional stability and for this reason we support the decision of the Libyan House of Representatives to reject the two memorandums and consider them null and void,” Abdel-Aal said.



According to Abdel-Aal, the International Berlin Conference scheduled this month represents an important opportunity for all parties in Libya to reach a political solution and restore stability to their country.



“But, meanwhile, Egypt will keep giving support to Libyans to restore their national state and institutions in the face of extremist thoughts and armed terrorist militias and groups which are supported by some countries which seek to sow instability in the region.”



“In this respect, let me confirm that we support the Libyan National Army and its legitimate leadership in fighting terrorist groups and foreign intervention,” Abdel-Aal added.

For his part, Libya’s Saleh said that, “History will never forget Egypt’s firm support for Libya in its current crisis.” “Dear Egyptian MPs, please know that Libya is facing Turkish aggression and terrorist operations led by some countries which claim themselves to be Muslim ones,” Saleh said, adding that “Turkey is trying its best to spread chaos on the Libyan land in terms of a proxy war that seeks to achieve the interests of some terrorist groups.”



According to Saleh, Turkey has a bloody history, not only in Libya, but in many Arab countries. “There is a fascist dictator who is using terrorist groups for targeting the national Arab states in Syria and Libya in the name of religion and for resurrecting what is called 'the Ottoman Caliphate.’”



“In this respect, Turkey moved to exploit what is called the presidential council in Tripoli to achieve its malicious objectives in Libya, and for this reason El-Serraj, supported by the Muslim Brotherhood, was pushed to sign the agreements with Turkey,” Saleh said, adding that “These agreements opened the door wide for Turkey’s interference in Libya’s internal affairs in the same style they did in Syria.”



“Erdogan claims that Libya is an Ottoman state and that he wants the Ottoman colonialism to be back to Libya to restore the shameful past of Ottomans there.”



According to Saleh, the illegitimate Government of National Accord in Tripoli also opened the door wide for terrorist militias to control Libya and to play havoc with the lives of the Libyan people.



“The memorandums reached with Turkey did not get the approval of the Libyan parliament and so they should be considered null and void, not to mention that they represent a kind of treason that well condemn,” said Saleh.



Several Egyptian MPs took the floor to praise Khalifa Haftar, leader of the Libyan National Army, and the Libyan House of Representatives which rejected the agreements with Turkey.



Ahmed Raslan, head of the Egyptian parliament’s Arab Affairs Committee, accused “the terrorist group of the Muslim Brotherhood of hijacking Libya for its own ideological interests and that Turkey’s Erdogan uses this group to spread hegemony in Arab and Muslim countries.”



Diaaeddin Dawoud, a leftist opposition MP, said “All Egyptian political forces support their army in protecting Egypt’s national security against some powers which insist on sowing instability in the Middle East.”



MP Mostafa Bakri said the Egyptian army’s military exercises and manoeuvres on Egypt's western borders should send a message to all parties that Egypt is ready to defend its national security.



Bakri asked that the ambassador of the Government of National Accord in Tripoli be expelled from Cairo and that the Egyptian parliament condemn Turkey’s massacres in Armenia.




https://english.ahram.org.eg/News/359382.aspx