Erdoğan: EU should support Turkish efforts if it wants peace in Libya

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan warned on Saturday that Europe could see further violence in Libya if it allowed the country's "legitimate" UN-backed government to fail.

"Europe will encounter a fresh set of problems and threats if Libya's legitimate government were to fall," Erdoğan wrote in Politico, citing renewed threats from the Daesh/ISIS and al-Qaeda terrorist organizations as well as potential irregular migration toward Europe.

The EU has a "historic" duty to support Libya's Government of National Accord (GNA), Erdoğan wrote, adding Sunday's peace conference in Berlin is "a very significant step" to this end.

Europe needs to take concrete steps in Libya as "a relevant actor in the international arena," Erdoğan said. But "keeping in mind that Europe is less interested in providing military support to Libya, the obvious choice is to work with Turkey," said the Turkish president.