EU chief due in Istanbul to meet Turkish president

By Agnes Szucs

BRUSSELS (AA) - European Council President Charles Michel will visit Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday in Istanbul, the EU leader’s press service announced Wednesday.

The announcement came a day after top EU diplomats urged a diplomatic solution and rejected what they called "foreign interference" in the Libyan conflict, including the sending of Turkish troops to the country at the request of Libya’s UN-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA).

Josep Borrell, EU foreign policy chief, rejected Turkish military aid to Libya as “foreign interference” during a press conference after his emergency meeting Tuesday with the foreign ministers of France, Italy, Germany, and Britain.

The EU is firmly convinced "there is no military solution to the Libyan crisis," warning that "a protracted conflict" would “spread instability across the region and aggravate the threat of terrorism,” said a joint statement by the top EU diplomats.

The foreign ministers of Italy, Greece, France as well as a Greek Cypriot administration envoy met Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry on Wednesday to discuss their response to the Libyan crisis as well as to the military aid offered by Turkey.

After meeting Erdogan in Istanbul on Saturday, Michel will also travel to Cairo to meet Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

Last week Turkey’s parliament passed a motion allowing the government to send troops to Libya’s UN-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA), which has been besieged by forces of Khalifa Haftar. The warlord supported by Egypt and the United Arab Emirates has made significant advances in recent weeks.

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.