Ayhan Şimşek
19 January 2020•Update: 19 January 2020
BERLIN
Turkey expects a positive outcome from the Libya peace conference in Berlin, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Sunday.
Speaking to reporters in Berlin ahead of the conference, Cavusoglu said participating states have reached a common understanding on a draft communique during a working-level meeting among diplomats on Saturday evening.
“There is a draft agreed by the participants. Now this will be discussed at the level of leaders,” Cavusoglu said.
Germany invited world powers and regional actors to a peace conference on Libya in a bid to thrash out a lasting cease-fire deal and pave the way for a political solution.
Cavusoglu underlined that Turkey has supported Germany’s initiative from the very beginning, and positively contributed to working-level talks since September.
“We hope that today’s conference will contribute to a lasting cease-fire and the revival of the political process,” he stressed, adding that Turkey will continue to support these efforts.
But he also cautioned against high expectations from Sunday’s meeting, saying that a one-day meeting alone cannot solve all the problems and end the Libyan conflict.
Leaders, including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, are gathering in Berlin on Sunday for the conference, which will be co-hosted by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
The German government announced that both Libya’s internationally recognized Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj and the eastern-based commander Haftar also accepted invitations for the conference.
The U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also arrived in Berlin to join talks, and had several bilateral meetings with his counterparts.
Top officials from Egypt and UAE, main supporters of the Libyan warlord Haftar, are also expected to take part in the conference.
Algeria’s President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, and Republic of Congo’s President Denis Sassou Nguesso, who chairs the African Union's High-Level Committee on Libya, were also invited.
