Turkey: Good Party not against sending troops to Libya

ANKARA

Turkey's opposition Good (IYI) Party leader said on Tuesday she is not against the deployment of Turkish troops in Libya to establish peace.

"What I am against is to do it unwisely. What I am against is to do it in defiance of diplomacy," Meral Aksener told her party's parliamentary group.

"If you send troops to Libya, you should be fair and impartial," Aksener said.

She added: "Troops cannot be sent by saying 'You putschist. Who are you?'"

Turkish soldiers should be sent to Libya "to prevent the clashes", she said.

On Jan. 2, the Turkish parliament ratified a motion authorizing the government to send troops to Libya.

The ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) backed the motion, while the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and IYI Party voted against the motion.

Following the motion, Turkey has been urging both sides in Libya to abide by a cease-fire deal.

Since the ouster of late ruler 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 the UN and international recognition.