Turkish arms smuggling in Libya puts NATO on the ropes

Turkey's expansionist policy continues to cause problems for its own partners. For a few months now, NATO, to which the Eurasian country is a state party, has had its back to the wall.

First, it avoided taking a clear position in the dispute between Ankara and Athens over the gas resources in the eastern Mediterranean, which several countries, such as the United Arab Emirates and France, have recently condemned as illegal. Then, the fighting of Turkish soldiers against Bachar al-Asad's Syrian Arab Army troops put Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in a difficult position again. In the face of the air strikes received by its partner, the Norwegian diplomat opted for a succinct statement of support.

Now, the latest episode in this tense relationship features Libya. The North African country, in a situation of civil war practically since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, is subject to an arms embargo decreed by the United Nations and which the European Union, in the framework of the new naval air deployment baptised Irini, is trying to guarantee.

Turkey, however, is taking advantage of any loopholes by continuing to provide war equipment to Fayez Sarraj's Government of National Accord (GNA), which is closely linked to the Muslim Brotherhood. Turkish ships have continued to arrive on the Libyan coast and also on the Tunisian coast, where Recep Tayyip Erdogan has found a new gateway to the neighbouring country.

To date, NATO, despite having a significant naval presence in the eastern Mediterranean, has not decided to give Brussels its full cooperation. Why? According to the German daily Telepolis, the organisation argues that if NATO ships were to participate in the mission, Turkey, which is a member state, would also have the right to access certain information which it could use for its own benefit.

In any case, it does not seem that the US-led military conglomerate wants to get further involved in the Libyan war, among other things, so as not to further damage its complicated relationship with Turkey. Moreover, as far as the eastern Mediterranean region is concerned, NATO has other more pressing problems, such as its control over its waters. In recent years, the Russian Navy has significantly increased its presence in inland sea waters, thanks mainly to its settlement at the Khmeimim base near Tartus (Syria).

While the arms embargo remains ineffective, the situation on the ground in Libya is becoming increasingly complicated. The complex system of arms smuggling concocted by Turkey to support its mercenary efforts in Libya is, however, beginning to have negative consequences also within the ranks of the GNA itself. Fathi Bashagha, Minister of the Interior in the Tripoli government, has publicly admitted that the arrival of war material has led to corruption at all official levels.

Beyond the corruption in various sectors of the administration, the constant flow of arms - and drugs - opened by Turkey has generated a black market that is very difficult to control. As a result, drug trafficking is skyrocketing and many weapons end up being transferred to terrorist groups in other regions, such as the Sahel strip. 

Turkey not only supplies equipment to its counterpart in the North African country, but also trains Syrian fighters from jihadist groups and then sends them to the front. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) estimates that some 8000 Syrian mercenaries have already arrived in Libya, but Ahmed al-Mismari, spokesman for the LNA (Libyan National Army), the rival faction of the GNA, puts that number at approximately double.

Recently, according to the Emirate newspaper Al-Ain, the arrival of a growing number of Syrian militiamen has caused tensions with the Libyan fighters themselves. In order to avoid mass defections like those that are already taking place - it is estimated that more than 2000 Syrian fighters have already fled to Europe - the GNA and Turkey have been forced to improve their conditions, which has been to the detriment of local fighters' salaries and also of large sectors of government officials.

Fighting, meanwhile, is intensifying on the western front, which stretches from Tripoli to the Tunisian border. Currently, one of the strategic points through which the GNA and the LNA are fighting is the Al-Wattiya airbase, which Sarraj claims to have under his control, but which is under heavy fire from Haftar troops.