Turkey to deliver 150,000 coronavirus vaccines to Libya

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday Turkey will deliver 150,000 coronavirus vaccine doses to Libya.

Erdogan was speaking in Ankara following a meeting with the head of Libya's new interim government, prime minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah.

He added that Turkey will boost cooperation between the two nations.

Libya's interim government, which took power last month, is meant to bring together a country that has been torn apart by civil war for nearly a decade.

It also aims to steer the country through general elections on December 24.

Turkey has been closely involved in Libya, backing the U.N.-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA), based in the capital Tripoli that controlled the west, against the Libyan National Army (LNA), based in Benghazi that controlled the east.

Turkey sent military supplies and fighters to Libya, helping to tilt the balance of power in favour of the Tripoli government.

Turkey also signed an agreement with the Tripoli-based government in 2019 to delineate the maritime boundaries between the two countries, a move that angered Greece and Cyprus.

Erdogan said the agreement ''has secured the interest and future of both countries.''

Libya was plunged into chaos when a NATO-backed uprising in 2011 toppled longtime ruler Moammar Gadhafi, who was later killed.