Libyan renegade commander Haftar visits Greece

By Fatih Hafiz Mehmet

ANKARA (AA) - Libya's renegade commander Khalifa Haftar paid a visit to Greece and met with top Greek officials on Friday, local media reported.

According to Greek daily Kathimerini, Hafter met with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias. There was no news conference after the meeting, however, Haftar said ahead of the meeting that he came to “discuss peace.”

Haftar also had a one-to-one meeting with Dendias. The Greek official said after the meeting that Haftar agreed the treaties signed between Turkey and Libya's UN-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) need to be cancelled.

On Nov. 27, Ankara and the GNA signed two separate pacts, one on military cooperation and the other on maritime boundaries of countries in the Eastern Mediterranean.

The maritime pact asserted Turkey's rights in the Eastern Mediterranean in the face of unilateral drilling by the Greek Cypriot administration, clarifying that the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus also has rights to the resources in the area. It went into effect on Dec. 8.

Greek Premier Mitsotakis said late Thursday that they will veto "any political solution" to the conflict in Libya on the EU Council level, if Turkey-Libya treaties are not canceled.

Mitsotakis also expressed his discomfort over not being invited to the Berlin conference on Libya, which Germany will host on Sunday.

Germany seeks to bring countries concerned with the Libyan issue at the Berlin conference in an attempt to reach a political solution to the conflict.

The Greek government had expressed its desire to participate in the conference, but was not included.

The German government announced that Fayez al-Sarraj, head of UN-recognized government in Libya, Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar, as well as representatives from Turkey, Russia, China, France, Italy, the U.S., the U.K., United Arab Emirates, Republic of Congo, the UN, the EU, African Union, Arab League, Algeria, and Egypt were invited to the conference.

Since the ouster of late leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, two seats of power have emerged in Libya: one in eastern Libya supported mainly by Egypt and the United Arab Emirates and the other in Tripoli, which enjoys UN and international recognition.