"We will never leave our Libyan brothers to the mercy of coup-makers and legionnaires"

With the fall of Tarhuna yesterday, Libya entered a completely new era. A day earlier, Tripoli Airport, which had long been under the control of the putschist Haftar and from which he had locked down the whole of Libya's airspace, had fallen. Each of these is a very great military success. Behind every success there are images of the destruction, or magnificent stories of the capture, of high-tech weapons procured from Russia and France with financing from the BAE, and of course at the heart of all these images and stories are Türkiye's İHA and SİHA drones, and the intelligence, courage and support of the TSK and the MİT.

You must be following it. With the support Türkiye has been giving the Libyan Government of National Accord (UMH) for some time, all the balances on the ground have changed. Until recently, the putschist former general Haftar, backed by the BAE, France, Egypt and Russia, had besieged Tripoli, the seat of Libya's legitimate government, right up to the very district where its administrative center is located. The government recognized by the international community and the UN as the legitimate representative of the Libyan people was stuck in Tripoli and was on the verge of falling even from there. At the moment he moved to the final push, the last strike, Türkiye stood before him, and from that moment on all the balances began to shift. Now Haftar is the one fleeing, and Tripoli's legitimate government is the one in pursuit. As for a sign of how far this pursuit will go, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan gave it yesterday when he received the Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj at the Külliye.

"Unfortunately, there are also heads of state or state representatives who approach this with an understanding along the lines of 'it is not possible to set Haftar aside.' We remind them once again. A person who has never concerned himself with the problems of the Libyan people and who constantly keeps Libya's future under threat cannot have the representative capacity to sit at the table on this matter either. This person and those who provide him with military, financial and political support are the greatest obstacle to peace. History will of course judge those who have drowned Libya in blood and tears by supporting the putschist Haftar."

Erdoğan said these words after expressing that they favor a dialogue process in Libya that will be conducted under the auspices of the UN, led by the Libyan people and with the participation of all the Libyan people. What this means is that Haftar has now lost his standing as a party to the dialogue or the political process in Libya.

In fact, Hatfer had been given this opportunity in Berlin shortly before he launched his latest attacks. Even there, despite the war crimes he had committed, this right was given to him as an extra, but he again displayed a greed, perhaps toward toppling the Tripoli government entirely and dominating the whole process alone.

But this greed was his end, because the habit of dominating the other parties by means of a coup at the first opportunity he gets is not a treatable, controllable habit. It is impossible for someone with this habit to be regarded as a reliable party in any political process. This is a clear danger for the Libyan people, and the Libyan people must be protected against this danger.

Indeed, Erdoğan also delivered his message clearly and plainly: "We will never leave our Libyan brothers to the mercy of putschists and legionnaires."

Meanwhile, a message from a very esteemed Turkish academic who has been living in France for years caught my attention, describing how excited he is, in particular, about the successes Türkiye has recently achieved in Libya. What really caught my attention in his message, and what led me to take an interest in the level of attention of the Turkish media, was what he said about the indifference the Turkish media has shown toward this great success. My academic friend said: "In the French and European media the recent successes of the UMH are characterized as a great success and advance for Türkiye and they get very significant coverage, but I see that the same attention does not exist in the Turkish media."

Yet this event is far more historic and far more important than even a Cyprus landing. Moreover, it is taking place quietly and without fuss. Only when my academic friend drew attention to it did I notice that, indeed, all the British and Arab media I follow give this event more space than the Turkish media. Even among us, the real reason the interest has intensified in these two days is not so much the successes the UMH has recorded on the ground with Türkiye's support as the Libyan prime minister's visit to the President.

I won't lie, I have always been alarmed by the exaggerated enthusiasms displayed in such situations. Because we run the danger that such enthusiastic behavior, in the end, after a while strengthens chauvinist feelings more than national feelings among us. How good it would be, instead, if these events turned into a lesson for a healthy historical consciousness.

Let me also share the answer I gave my friend: Let us look at it from the bright side. One, for Türkiye, such successes have now gone beyond being the subject of exaggerated enthusiasm. They have become Türkiye's routine. The fact that such successes are being achieved every day in every field shows that Türkiye's strength has now reached a certain point.

Two, in the end these victories, even if achieved with Türkiye's support, are officially the successes of the Libyan UMH forces. Although it appears in the international landscape as Türkiye's success or advance, Türkiye's claim is not to fight in Libya but to establish peace and tranquility and, in the final analysis, to leave Libya truly to the Libyans. The fact that an exaggerated enthusiasm for success is not being experienced on Türkiye's side is the work of a nobility Türkiye is displaying and of consistency with its claims.

Let this also be a separate lesson to the colonialist occupier-putschist powers who are trying to weigh down on Libya and who shamelessly ask what business Türkiye has there.