Turkey has allegedly been trying to block Egypt and Israel from NATO cooperation exercises, leaked documents cited by Nordic Monitor suggest. The Turkish documents, if genuine, show that Ankara effectively tried to exercise a veto on Egypt or Israel joining joint exercises under NATO’s Mediterranean Dialogue (MD) framework. MD is a political dialogue and cooperation protocol with seven non-NATO countries in the Mediterranean region including Egypt, Israel, Algeria, Jordan, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia.

Continuing to stir the pot, Turkey is looking to Tunis to back it up on Libya: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Tunis early yesterday in a surprise visit to discuss with his Tunisian counterpart, Kais Saied, potential coordinated measures the two countries can take to establish a ceasefire in Libya, according to Reuters. Erdogan reaffirmed his willingness to deploy Turkish troops in Libya should it receive a formal request from Fayez Al Serraj’s Government of National Accord (GNA). Turkey’s involvement in Libya has created tension with several countries, including Egypt, where Libya shut down its embassy earlier this month.

Background: Egypt has been vocal about its disapproval of the two military cooperation and border demarcation memoranda signed last month between the GNA and Turkey, saying they are in violation of the Shkirat peace agreement. In response, the GNA said Egypt is the one violating international law for its support of Haftar. A future outlook is not that clear but Reuters has a detailed background.