Six years ago, Turkish drones and troops were actively smashing the military ambitions of General Khalifa Haftar as his forces tried to seize Tripoli. Ankara was the sworn protector of western Libya. Haftar was the warlord backed by Russia and the UAE.
Fast forward to May 2026, and the entire geopolitical script has been flipped.
During the EFES-2026 military exercises along Turkey's Aegean coast, over 500 Libyan troops trained side by side under a single Libyan flag. Here is the kicker: 331 of those troops came from Haftar's eastern forces, while 171 came from the western government in Tripoli. They were learning amphibious operations and special forces tactics from the very Turkish military that used to bomb them.
If you think this is a sudden burst of idealistic peacemaking, you are missing the real game. Ankara is playing a hyper-pragmatic, both-sides strategy. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is transitioning Turkey from a partisan military protector into an irreplaceable power broker across the entire country.
The goal is clear: securing Turkey's sweeping maritime and economic ambitions in the Mediterranean, no matter who runs the show in Libya.
The Shift From Battlefield Enemies to Diplomatic Guests
For years, Turkey treated the eastern Libyan administration with open hostility. Turkish defense officials routinely labeled Haftar a coup plotter. But political realities in North Africa change fast.
Ankara realized that backing only the western Government of National Unity (GNU) under Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh had hit a wall of diminishing returns. Western Libya is increasingly fragmented. Misrata, once a unified stronghold for Tripoli, is split between pro- and anti-government factions.
If Turkey wanted to protect its long-term assets, it had to talk to the east.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has been leading this quiet diplomatic pivot. Fidan opened direct lines of communication not just with the aging Khalifa Haftar, but with his powerful sons who are poised to inherit the eastern fiefdom.
In late 2025, General Saddam Haftar, the Deputy General Commander of the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA), traveled to Ankara. He sat down for high-level security talks with Fidan and Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler. The images of Saddam Haftar smiling alongside Turkish officials would have been unthinkable a few years ago.
By bringing both eastern and western military personnel to Turkish soil for the EFES-2026 drills, Ankara sent a blunt message to the rest of the world. It is the only external power capable of getting these bitter rivals to march under the same flag.
Why the Mediterranean Maritime Deal Trumps Everything
To understand why Turkey is courting its former enemies, you have to look at the Mediterranean seabed.
In 2019, Turkey and the previous Tripoli-based government signed a controversial maritime boundary memorandum. This agreement carved out a generous Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) for Turkey, effectively cutting right through Greek and Cypriot maritime claims. It is Ankara’s ultimate weapon in the battle over Eastern Mediterranean gas reserves.
The problem? The eastern Libyan parliament and Haftar’s faction fiercely rejected the 2019 deal, calling it illegal.
This is where the new diplomatic strategy pays off. Ankara knows that any permanent political settlement in Libya will require the east's signature. By building deep ties with the Haftar family, Turkey is positioning itself to ensure that whatever government eventually emerges in a unified Libya will maintain and honor that 2019 maritime agreement.
Ankara is essentially telling the eastern faction that Turkish business expansion, military training, and political backing are up for grabs, but the maritime borders are non-negotiable.
Money Talks where Ideology Fails
While the maritime deal handles the grand strategy, Turkish construction companies and industrial conglomerates are handling the immediate economics. Libya’s eastern authorities are currently oversaw massive reconstruction projects, especially in Benghazi and Derna, which was devastated by catastrophic flooding in 2023.
Turkish contractors want those multi-billion-dollar reconstruction contracts.
In the past, eastern authorities locked Turkish firms out of these deals out of spite. Today, the mood is completely different. Turkish business delegations are arriving in Benghazi regularly. The Turkish consulate in Benghazi has re-opened, smoothing the path for trade and visas.
At the same time, Turkey is not abandoning Tripoli. Erdogan extended the mandate for Turkish military forces in western Libya, giving Ankara continued control over strategic air and naval bases like Al-Watiya.
By holding the military keys to the west and offering economic and diplomatic lifelines to the east, Turkey has built an incredible amount of leverage.
Outmaneuvering Global Rivals in the New Cold War
Turkey’s aggressive double-play in Libya is also a direct challenge to other global powers operating in North Africa.
The United States, through Senior Adviser Massad Boulos, has been pushing a new, pragmatic power-sharing plan aimed at setting up a unified national budget and moving toward elections by 2027. The US wants a stable Libya primarily to secure oil exports and block Russian influence.
Russia has long used its mercenary footprint—formerly Wagner, now rebranded under the Russian Africa Corps—to prop up Haftar in the east.
Turkey is cleverly using the US desire for stability to justify its own presence. Ankara frames its "One Libya, One Army" initiative as the only realistic way to build a unified Libyan state. By doing so, Turkey aims to push Russian mercenary influence to the periphery while showing Washington that Turkish forces are an asset for stability, not a destabilizing force.
It is a high-wire act, but it is working.
If you are tracking geopolitical risks or investing in North African energy and logistics, you must stop treating Libya as a simple east-versus-west conflict. Watch the bilateral corporate deals coming out of Benghazi and the ongoing joint military training in Turkey. The real power shifts are happening in the gray zones where former enemies find it profitable to shake hands.
