ANKARA, January 2. /TASS/. Turkey’s parliament has passed a bill, which makes it possible to send Turkish troops to Libya. "A total of 509 lawmakers participated in the vote, 325 of them supported the bill and 184 voted against it," Parliament Speaker Mustafa Sentop said.

The bill was submitted to the country’s parliament by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party on December 30.

According to the Turkish media, Ankara may first send military instructors to train the fighters of the Libyan Government of National Accord. Besides, Turkey may consider providing Tripoli with the Hisar and Korkut missile systems.

Erdogan has said on numerous occasions that Turkey was ready to send troops to Libya at Tripoli’s request. On November 28, Ankara and Tripoli signed a memorandum on cooperation, which particularly covers the defense field.

Libya crisis

There currently are two governments in Libya: the internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) headed by Fayez al-Sarraj, which is headquartered in the country’s capital of Tripoli, and Abdullah al-Thani’s cabinet based in the country’s east, which has the support of the Libyan National Army (LNA) led by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar.

On December 12, Haftar announced the launch of a crucial offensive aimed at taking control of the country’s capital. The LNA has repeatedly stated that it would oppose any foreign interference in Libya’s domestic affairs and threatened to sink ships and shoot down cargo aircraft carrying military aid from Turkey.