Ottoman Revival: Explaining the Turkish Intervention in Libya

Abstract

On the 5th of January 2020, the first Turkish troops reached Tripoli beginning the Turkish military intervention in the war-torn country. Libya has been enduring a bloody civil war for over 10 years, failing to reach a compromise or an agreement that could restore the peace to the country. The chaos has attracted many actors to intervene in the oil-rich country, with Turkey being the most recent. The support that the Government of National Accords (GNA) received from Ankara was able to change the balance of power significantly on ground. The GNA, which was influenced significantly by Islamists, was challenged by its main rivel, the House of Representatives in Tobruk with the support of Army General Khalifa Haftar. However, the reasons behind Erdogan’s move are still unexplored and ambiguous. This paper aims to provide a thorough analysis of the real reasons that pushed Erdogan to the Libyan conflict, which can be divided to multiple levels of analysis. At the state level, it will look into the political and economic interests of Turkey in Libya and the region. Second, this paper will discuss the role of Erdogan’s leadership and his ambitions in pushing for the military intervention. Finally, it will discuss the role of the rivalry between Turkey and some of the regional players that might have led to the decision to intervene.