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Russian, Turkish foreign ministers discuss Libyan crisis

The ministers also discussed the development of bilateral cooperation on all coronavirus-related issues

MOSCOW, June 20. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu have discussed the need for coordinated action on Libyan regulation during a phone call on Saturday, the Russian Foreign Ministry informed.

"During the talks, they have exchanged opinions on the state and prospects of development of the situation in the Middle East and North Africa focusing on the need for the soonest establishment of a ceasefire between the warring sides in Libya and the establishment of inter-Libyan dialogue in accordance with Resolution 2510 of the UN Security Council and the outcomes of the Berlin conference on January 19 of this year," the ministry said. "They have stressed the importance of coordinated steps of Russia and Turkey with the aim of political regulation of the Libyan crisis."

The ministers also discussed the development of bilateral cooperation on all coronavirus-related issues.

Earlier, Lavrov had planned to visit Turkey on June 14, however, the visit was postponed until an unspecified date.

Situation in Libya

Currently, Libya has two parallel bodies of executive power: the internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) headed by Fayez al-Sarraj, and Abdullah Abdurrahman al-Thani’s interim government, operating in the country’s east together with parliament and supported by the Libyan National Army (LNA), led by Commander Khalifa Haftar. For over a year, the warring parties have been fighting for Libya’s capital Tripoli.

On January 19, an international high-level conference on Libya took place in Berlin, with at least ten heads of state and government attending the event including Russian President Vladimir Putin. The conference’s final communique includes a call to ceasefire, as well as the call for foreign countries to refrain from intervening in Libya’s affairs, while it also proposes creation of a single government and launch of reforms to restore statehood that was demolished by NATO almost ten years ago. The conflict sides also agreed to establish a special ceasefire monitoring commission.

On June 6, an initiative aimed to overcome the Libyan crisis was published in Cairo. It supposes a full ceasefire between both sides starting June 8 and the continuation of talks in Geneva under the auspices of the UN with the aim to unite the state institutes of power. This initiative was rejected by the government in Tripoli.