Three Meetings in Less than a Week: Erdogan’s Son-in-Law Meets Siddik al-Kabir Again

The outgoing Governor of the Central Bank of Libya (CBL) in Tripoli, Siddiq al-Kabir, met on Wednesday in Istanbul with Erdogan’s son-in-law and Turkish Finance Minister, Berat Albayrak.

July 1, 2020 meeting

(Libya, 2 July 2020) – According to the CBL’s statement on its official page, the meeting discussed the outcome of the activities of the team assigned by the two parties to review the so-called “issues of common concern discussed in the meeting on Friday 26 June 2020 to achieve mutual interests.”

June 26, 2020 meeting

In this regard, Siddik al-Kabir referred to the meeting he had with Berat Albayrak last Friday, and this was followed by another meeting on 29 June but in the presence of his wife’s father, Erdogan, making the total of three meetings in less than a week.

June 29, 2020 meeting

As usual, al-Kabir did not disclose any details about these meetings which occurred away from media cameras. In each official statement following each of the three meetings, Siddik al-Kabir only published only a photo of the meeting while copying and pasting the same redundant sentence, that they “discussed issues of common concern.”

It is noteworthy that al-Kabir’s meeting with Erdogan sparked a storm of criticism for violating all protocols and rules. No CBL’s Governor has ever met a head of state in a closed-door meeting while keeping all those concerned in the dark. Member of the House of Representatives (HOR), Saad Amugheeb, considered it a message proving Erdogan’s control of the CBL.

Al-Agha: Siddiq al-Kabir Deposited US$8 Billion in Turkey’s Central Bank, Interest-Free

While all-Kabir was meeting with Erdogan, Ali Sassi, the CEO of the General Electricity Company of Libya (GECOL), met with Turkey’s ambassador to the Government of National Accord (GNA), Sarhan Aksan, in a closed meeting, too. Sassi later revealed that the Aksan offered him a deal to lease power ships from the Turkish company “Karadeniz” and the purchase of expensive mobile units, all producing 1,500 megawatts.

VIDEO | Ali #Sassi, CEO of #GECOL: Only solution available to solve the crisis, even if expensive, is the offer made by #Turkey's Ambassador yesterday and rent Turkish generator ships, to generate 1,500 MW out of a total deficit of 2,500 MW. #Libyahttps://t.co/r9m8XpCdCE

— صحيفة المرصد الليبية (@ObservatoryLY) June 30, 2020

Berat Albayrak is the second man in the Turkish regime, or rather the “Turkish ruling family”, after Bilal, Erdogan’s son, and his wife’s brother. Berat was the Minister of Energy and before that he was the Chairman of Çalık Holding operating mainly in power generation, run now by his brother.

On 17 June, Çalık Holding announced it was preparing to operate in the GNA-controlled areas in light of Turkey’s desire to harvest the economic gains after its military gains stalled due to its inability to carry out the attack to control the oil ports, as was the wish of Erdogan.

While hardly a day passes by without Turkey talking about Libya as if it were the 82nd Turkish province (as one of the diplomats said at the League of the Arab States), the Chief of Staff of the Turkish naval forces, Adnan Özbal, paid a sudden unannounced visit to Tripoli. Turkish newspapers revealed that it was for discussing the establishment of a Turkish naval base in Misrata and an airbase in al-Watiya.

© Al Marsad English ((2020)

FURTHER LINKS

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