ANKARA, January 5. /TASS/. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Sunday that the deployment of Turkish troops to Libya had begun.

"Our service members are tasked with carrying out coordination action. Turkish troops are gradually deployed to ensure the security of [Libya's] legitimate government," the Turkish leader said aired by CNN Turk.

Erdogan did not elaborate whether the Turkish forces were already present in Libya or not yet.

Apart from that, Erdogan claimed that 2,500 fighters of the private military company Wagner and 6,000 fighters from Sudan were currently stationed in Libya.

"Why cannot we go there once the legitimate government asks us about that?" Erdogan added.

Last week, Ankara passed a bill that would allow the government to send troops to Libya. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said on numerous occasions before that Turkey was ready to send troops to Libya at Tripoli’s request.

Currently, Libya has two supreme executive authorities, namely the internationally-recognized Tripoli-based Government of National Accord headed by Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj, and the interim government of Abdullah al-Thani, seated in the east of the country, along with the elected parliament, which is supported by the Libyan National Army.

In early April, Field Marshal of the Libyan National Army Khalifa Haftar announced the launch of an offensive against Tripoli. Sarraj ordered all military units loyal to him to gear up to defend the capital. The armed confrontation has results in hundreds of human deaths and destruction of vital infrastructure facilities. Thousands had to flee their homes. On December 12, Haftar announced the launch of a win-the-war offensive against Tripoli.