Thread by @abdbozkurt

The Libyan News Observatory AlMarsad claims it obtained the identities of senior Turkish military & intelligence team operating in #Libya, published passport copies of Turkish generals/diplomats. Unconfirmed reports that hostages kept by #Haftar are in fact members of this team.

The team is led by Major-General Göksel Kahya, deputy undersecretary of Turkey's Ministry of National Defence. Turkish government reacted strongly to the detention of Turkish nationals in #Libya and did not disclose their IDs.

Another high-ranking officer in the list is major general İrfan Özsert, the head of Turkish Military Intelligence and General Secretary of the Turkish General Staff. If he was among the detained as rumoured, this is a major screw-up by #Erdogan govt.

Levent Ergün, a controversial figure who was convicted on illegal clandestine activities and sentenced to 13 years in jail but freed by #Erdogan govt and promoted to major-general rank in charge of operations in Turkish military, is also among the list.

İlkay Altındağ, another shadowy figure who was indicted & jailed on leaking classified documents to espionage gang in honey-trap scheme but freed by #Erdogan govt, also embedded with this team in #Libya. He was promoted to Brigadier General rank in 2018, run special operations.

This looks like #Erdogan and his neo-nationalist allies' dream team to run nasty clandestine schemes abroad. Almost all were indebted to Erdogan and happy to do Turkish president's dirty bidding in promoting Islamist groups as proxies to gain leverage.

Even if the reports of their captivity are not true, it is clear that they were engaged in #Libyan affairs in military and intelligence ops and their passports under diplomatic cover were presented to Libyan authorities for clearance in advance.

#Erdogan government that sent arms to factions in #Libya needs a lot of explaining to do with many burning questions around this hostage affair and provide some details on the hostage situation instead of merely issuing threats. Who put Turkish interests and nationals at risk?

Another passport copy indicates Rear Admiral Gürsoy Çaypınar, a man who was convicted and sentenced to 16 years in jail on illegal schemes but also freed by #Erdogan who put him in charge of critical amphibian navy assets, is the member of this team that operates in #Libya.

Brigadier General Selçuk Yavuz who was involved in cross-border military offensive in #Syria is also among the the Turkish delegation according to passport copies submitted to #Libyan authorities. He run commando units & promoted to key position in military in charge of promotion

The Turkish drone that was destroyed by forces loyal to Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar and steady flow of arms from #Turkey as documented by the UN periodic reports show how #Erdogan govt has been fuelling the conflict in Libya. As hostage crisis shows, the policy has real risks.

Turkish Foreign Ministry @MFATurkey and the Defense Ministry @tcsavunma need to put out a better statement. Is it true that the detained Turkish nationals are in fact high-level military personnel? What they were doing there and under what circumstances they were being detained.