Khalifa Haftar

Turkish National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar on Dec. 26 embarked on a visit to Libya.

Accompanied by Turkey's Chief of General Staff Gen. Yaşar Güler and other military commanders,

Akar met Libya's Chairman of the High Council of State Khalid al-Mishri, Defense Minister Salahuddin al-Namroush and Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha.

A Turkish ship, transporting medicine to Libya's port of Misrata and detained last week by forces loyal to Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar, was released on Dec. 10. 

The vessel and its crew members set out for their final destination Misrata, local sources told Anadolu Agency.

Turkey's Foreign Ministry on Dec. 8 condemned the detaining of a Turkish ship transporting medicine to Libya's port of Misrata by forces loyal to Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar. 

Haftar's forces detained the vessel and its 17 crew members, including nine Turkish citizens, earlier in the day, claiming they did not comply with instructions. The vessel was also fined.

A Turkish ship transporting medicine to Libya's port of Misrata was detained early on Dec. 8 by forces loyal to Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar. 

Haftar's forces detained the vessel and its 17 crew members, including nine Turkish citizens, claiming they did not comply with instructions.

Ankara will take necessary steps in every field against the EU's Operation Irini over the illegal search of a Turkish-flagged vessel bound for Libya, Turkey's National Security Council said on Nov. 25. 

Turkey's top diplomat on Nov. 24 accused a German frigate of violating international law when it stopped and searched a commercial vessel without the consent of its flag-state or its captain.

"It is a violation of international law to embark on trade ships like pirates," Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu told reporters in the capital Ankara.

The envoys of the European Union, Italy and Germany in the Turkish capital Ankara were summoned to the country's Foreign Ministry on Nov. 23 in the wake of a controversial search of a Turkish-flagged ship by an EU naval mission a day earlier.

Turkey and Russia will hold two-day talks on Syria and Libya, the Turkish Foreign Ministry has an-nounced, amid ongoing ceasefires in both theaters.

Turkey's presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalın spoke via telephone on Aug. 14 with U.S. National Security Advisor Robert C. O'Brien about bilateral relations, Libya, the Eastern Mediterranean and Palestine, according to an official statement.  

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Treasury and Finance Minister Berat Albayrak, Presidential Spokesperson İbrahim Kalın and National Intelligence Organization (MİT) chair Hakan Fidan visited Libya on June 17 for official meetings.

The delegation met with the U.N.-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj.