EU chief to meet President Erdoğan in Istanbul


European Council President Charles Michel will visit President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Saturday in Istanbul, the EU leader's press service announced Wednesday.

The announcement came a day after top EU diplomats urged a diplomatic solution and rejected what they called "foreign interference" in the Libyan conflict, including the deployment of Turkish troops to the country at the request of Libya's U.N.-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA).

Josep Borrell, EU foreign policy chief, rejected Turkish military aid to Libya as "foreign interference" during a press conference after his emergency meeting Tuesday with the foreign ministers of France, Italy, Germany and Britain.

The EU is firmly convinced "there is no military solution to the Libyan crisis," warning that "a protracted conflict" would "spread instability across the region and aggravate the threat of terrorism," said a joint statement by top EU diplomats.

The foreign ministers of Italy, Greece and France as well as a Greek Cypriot administration envoy met with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry Wednesday to discuss their response to the Libyan crisis as well as to the military aid offered by Turkey.

After meeting Erdoğan in Istanbul Saturday, Michel will also travel to Cairo to meet with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi.

Last week, Turkey's Parliament passed a motion allowing the government to send troops to assist the GNA, which has been besieged by the forces of Khalifa Haftar. The warlord supported by Egypt and the United Arab Emirates has made significant advances in recent weeks.

Since the ousting of late leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, two seats of power have emerged in Libya – one in eastern Libya supported mainly by Egypt and the United Arab Emirates and the other in Tripoli, which enjoys U.N. and international recognition.