Turkey seeks to break Libya deadlock with 6+6 revival

Turkey seeks to break Libya deadlock with 6+6 revival Saleh and Takala agreed to reactivate the 6+6 Committee to complete the drafting of electoral laws, with Turkey due to host the committee’s meetings in the coming days. Friday 11/09/2026 Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin (R), House of Representatives Speaker Aguila Saleh (C) and High Council of State President Mohammed Takala pose for a picture in Ankara, September 10, 2026. ANKARA Turkey is seeking to turn its expanding contacts with rival Libyan factions into an opening to revive the country’s stalled political process, bringing together House of Representatives Speaker Aguila Saleh and High Council of State President Mohammed Takala in Ankara in a move that has put electoral laws back at the centre of the debate and opened the way for the 6+6 Committee to resume its work. The significance of the meeting goes beyond reviving the committee that previously drafted proposals for laws governing elections. It is also part of an effort to bring together issues that have remained unresolved for years, foremost among them the unification of sovereign institutions and executive authority and preparations for elections that could end Libya’s political division. Saleh and Takala agreed after their meeting in the Turkish capital to reactivate the 6+6 Committee to complete the drafting of electoral laws, with Turkey due to host the committee’s meetings in the coming days. The agreement came with a joint emphasis on the importance of strengthening national consensus and supporting political and institutional stability, paving the way towards electoral milestones intended to end a prolonged succession of transitional phases. The move is significant because the 6+6 Committee itself was one of the previous attempts to establish common ground between the House of Representatives and the High Council of State. The committee was formed in June 2023 following meetings in Bouznika, Morocco, and was tasked with preparing the laws needed to hold presidential and parliamentary elections. Disagreements over some provisions of those laws, however, prevented its work from being translated into an electoral process capable of being implemented. By bringing Saleh and Takala together, Ankara is seeking to put that track back on the table, but within a broader political framework. The two sides stressed the need to unify sovereign institutions and end the division between executive authorities, leading to a unified executive authority capable of overseeing elections. This is where the importance of Turkey’s move lies. Libya’s crisis is no longer linked only to the absence of agreed electoral laws, but also to the existence of multiple centres of political, executive and security decision-making. Elections require unified institutions and rules accepted by the main parties, making the reactivation of the 6+6 Committee a necessary step, but not one that is sufficient on its own. In this context, Takala handed Saleh a letter concerning the composition of the board of the High National Elections Commission, which is to be presented to the House of Representatives. The development shows that the discussion is beginning to move beyond electoral legislation itself to the institutions that are expected to manage the electoral process, reflecting an attempt to address different elements of the dispute in parallel. Turkey’s involvement has not emerged in isolation. Over the past years, Ankara has developed relations with different actors in Libya and become an influential player in the west of the country, while at the same time maintaining channels of communication with figures and institutions in the east. That gives Turkey room to move between the two sides, although it does not mean that Ankara has the ability to impose a settlement. The Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin has also entered the contacts, meeting Saleh and Takala in Ankara to discuss the Libyan file and cooperation between the two countries, alongside issues related to political and military unity, stability and the resolution of outstanding matters. The involvement indicates that Ankara views the Libyan process as an intertwined political and security issue, rather than simply a dispute over the timing of elections. Kalin’s meeting with the two legislative leaders focused on developments in Libya and the region, steps to further Libya-Turkey cooperation and ongoing efforts to achieve political and military unity while maintaining stability. The talks also addressed ways to make lasting progress on long-unresolved issues and reach broad consensus among the parties. The leading roles of the High Council of State and the House of Representatives in establishing stability and advancing the political process were also underlined. The parties agreed on the objectives of achieving political unity and unifying state institutions. The holding of Libyan presidential and parliamentary elections, resolving disputes over executive authority and achieving full integration in the military and political spheres have been under discussion for years, but initiatives by different parties have failed to produce a solution. The Ankara meeting is considered significant because it brought the heads of the two institutions together in Turkey to discuss the issues and made concrete progress on processes that had been at an impasse. The real test of Turkey’s role, however, begins after the Ankara meeting rather than with it. Successfully restarting the 6+6 Committee will require the two councils to overcome the disagreements that previously paralysed its work. It will also require addressing the issue of the divided executive authority, split between the Government of National Unity headed by Abdulhamid Dbeibah in Tripoli and the government appointed by the House of Representatives in the east and headed by Osama Hamad. The international factor also remains strongly present, particularly as the United Nations Support Mission in Libya has sought in recent years to push towards a formula leading to elections without managing to remove the political and institutional obstacles. Turkey’s move could therefore intersect with or support the UN track, but it will face the same question: can Libya’s rival parties turn initial understandings into binding and implementable arrangements? Ankara is betting that bringing Saleh and Takala together can open a new political window, particularly amid continuing division and the failure of previous attempts to break the deadlock. The value of the move, however, will be measured by its ability to produce practical understandings on electoral laws and institutional unification, rather than simply by the resumption of meetings. Turkey is testing the limits of its political influence in Libya: whether it can move from being an influential party to a mediator capable of bringing opposing sides closer together. The answer will depend on the willingness of the House of Representatives and the High Council of State to make mutual concessions, Turkey’s ability to maintain a balance in its relations with Libya’s different centres of power, and whether the new track avoids becoming another in a series of initiatives that reproduce the deadlock rather than end it. Elections remain the stated goal, but the road towards them first runs through addressing the institutional and political division that has kept the electoral process postponed for years. The return of the 6+6 Committee to work could therefore mark the beginning of a new track, while also providing an early test of Turkey’s ability to break Libya’s political deadlock rather than simply host it.
2026-09-11 09:58:10