Turkey fast-tracks bill to deploy troops to Libya

The Turkish government is sending to parliament on Monday a bill mandating the deployment of troops to Libya, said Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, accelerating a high-stakes plan that Ankara outlined last week.
Last week, President Tayyip Erdogan said his government would seek parliamentary consent to deploy troops to Libya after Fayez al-Serraj's Government of National Accord (GNA) requested support. The GNA is fending off an offensive by Khalifa Haftar's forces in the east of the North African country.
Erdogan had said on Thursday the bill would pass around Jan. 8-9.
But Cavusoglu, after meeting with Turkish opposition leaders to seek support for the legislation, told reporters the bill would be submitted to parliament later on Monday.
"As the Foreign Ministry, we presented the mandate to the Presidency for it to be sent to the parliament. And as of today,...