Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met eastern Libyan leader Khalifa Haftar in Benghazi amid Libya’s long-running political division and conflict. The meeting, reported on August 14, was portrayed as a new diplomatic initiative by Ankara to broaden relations with both sides of Libya’s divide.

Turkey’s ties with eastern authorities were tense in the past. When Haftar’s forces attempted to seize the capital, Tripoli, in 2019-20, Turkey provided military support to the Tripoli-based government. Ankara has recently increased contact and cooperation with eastern forces. Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin also met in Benghazi with Saddam Haftar, Haftar’s son and deputy commander of the Libyan National Army.

Those discussions addressed efforts to bring eastern and western administrations and military forces under a single structure, as well as expanding cooperation between the two countries. Fidan also met Saddam Haftar in Ankara on July 24, though no official details were released. Observers say Turkey is seeking stronger ties with the Haftar camp while pursuing political settlement, security cooperation and strategic and economic interests in the Mediterranean.