19 February 2016•Update: 19 February 2016
By Meltem Bulur
ANKARA
Turkey’s Libya special envoy is hopeful that the proposed unity government will win a vote of confidence in parliament, followed by international recognition.
But “if it fails, that means Libya will enter a more difficult period,” Justice and Development (AK) Party MP, Emrullah Isler, told Anadolu Agency on Friday.
Following a UN-mediated political agreement between rival camps in December, Libya’s internationally backed presidency council proposed this week a new unity cabinet aimed at ending severe divisions in the country.
Libya’s internationally recognized parliament on Tuesday postponed a vote on the new government until Feb. 22.
Isler said that after winning the confidence vote in parliament, the UN would declare it Libya’s legitimate government. Two rival governments have operated in Libya since 2014.
The Turkish envoy said that Libya, as with other countries that have passed through the Arab Spring, has passed through a very difficult situation with a civil war and an increasing Daesh presence.
He said that Turkey wants the government to be positioned in capital Tripoli, as the agreement stipulates. He said that the UN’s role in reaching the agreement has been critical but it "should not have been so late".
The oil-rich country has remained in a state of turmoil since a bloody rebellion -- part of the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings -- ended with the ouster and death of longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi.
Since then, the country’s stark political divisions have yielded two rival seats of government, one in Tobruk and one in capital Tripoli, each of which boasts its own institutions and military capacities.
