NATO and EU divided over the French-Turkish rivalry on Libya

A Financial Times article co-written by Michael Peel in Brussels, Andrew England in London, Victor Mallet in Paris and Laura Pitel in Ankara, with the contribution of Heba Saleh in Cairo pinpoints to the augmenting cracks in the NATO military alliance as France

The authors are wondering as well what exactly Paris is seeking to achieve in the region, however one has to keep in mind the long lasting stand off between Paris and Libya during the ’80’s over Chad, when French forces drove Colonel Kadaffi’s forces back to Libyan territory.

Nevertheless, this time France is found facing a NATO ally, Turkey, as it has been expressing in the past few months its support for Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, who launched a more than year-long offensive on Tripoli in order to oust the UN-backed government of Fayez al-Sarraj.

The FT article stresses out that the French-Turkish rivalry has been escalating due to Turkey’s open intervention backing the Tripoli government of GNA (Fayez al-Sarraj), as Haftar’s forces started encountering some heavy defeats in recent weeks.

Despite the fact that President Emmanuel Macron repeatedly has stated that Paris has now adopted a neutral stance, fully endorsing the UN-supported peace process in Libya agreed by international powers in January, nevertheless “some suggest the claimed recalibration and the French criticism of Ankara have more to do with the Tripoli government’s success since April in repelling Mr Haftar’s offensive, with the help of weapons and mercenaries sent by Turkey.”

“The French have realised Haftar has become a liability and not an asset any more,” one veteran western diplomat says of the French position, adding that “I believe they are embarrassed because once again they made a mistake. Faced with this mistake, they have to justify it and they blame Turkey.”

The article, in a sense seemingly quite one-sided, cites the view of Tarek Megerisi, policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, who claims that “France has different interests to Germany and Italy in Libya and it has moved to protect these interests…It has security interests in the Sahel and a wider security partnership that it is building with the United Arab Emirates — and in which Egypt is a big part.”

As the authors of the FT article suggest the French policies on Libya and its intensifying rivalry with Ankara, as President Macron describes Turkey’s actions in the north African state as “criminal”, are being openly questioned by European diplomats who do not see the situation as so clear-cut.

The constant influx of weaponry from Ankara — including Turkish-made armed drones — as well as military advisers and several thousand Syrian mercenaries to support the Tripoli-based GNA government have turned the tide of the civil war, fending off Gen Haftar’s siege of Tripoli in the past few months. “Let’s be honest, Turkey stopped the fall of Tripoli” said a senior European diplomat, adding that “Without their intervention, it would have been a humanitarian disaster.” Foreign policy analysts say France overplayed its hand in championing Haftar as a strongman whom it could control in the traditions of its postcolonial Africa policy — and was then shocked when Turkey intervened to support the government in Tripoli.

Dorothée Schmid, a Middle East expert at Ifri, the French foreign relations institute suggests that “There was a sort of strategic panic” among French officials when its policy of backing Mr Haftar as someone who would curb Islamist militants in north Africa went wrong. And she adds that despite the fact that France is struggling to find support for its confrontational approach from its NATO and European allies, most of the European states view the Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar as the aggressor and the main barrier to a political resolution. “France is rather isolated in this affair,” Ms Schmid indicates, and stresses out that “…everyone is waiting for the American elections.”

French pressure increases on Ankara

France’s decision to suspend last week its participation in a NATO mission off Libya’s coast, due to what Paris claims to be “a hostile behaviour of Turkish warships” towards a French frigate that was patrolling the area is not considered an isolated incident, as the French government has been constantly criticising Turkey over its drilling for hydrocarbon reserves in waters off Cyprus’ EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone) and its military incursion into northern Syria last year. However, the latest incident off the libyan coast has increased the looming tensions among the two NATO allies, as President Macron drummed up that NATO was suffering “brain death” due to the absence of a co-ordinated response to Ankara’s Syrian move. In fact, France is not the only NATO member being unhappy with Turkey, “which is the target of — largely symbolic — EU sanctions over the Mediterranean drilling.” Moreover, the US administration has been quite mistrustful for Ankara’s decision to purchase an S-400 air defence system from Russia, leading last year to its full expulsion from Nato’s F-35 stealth fighter jet programme.

In addition, President Macron has also tightened diplomatic relations with Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, crown prince of Abu Dhabi and de facto leader of the UAE. The Gulf state is considered to be one of the staunchest allies of Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar. Sheikh Mohammed and Mr Macron held discussions over the Libyan crisis last month, calling again for a ceasefire. However, diplomats fear that all sides in the Libyan conflict are now mobilising as the crisis seems to escalate instead of de-escalating.

Source: Financial Times

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