On 1 August, a trilateral meeting took place between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and Libyan Prime Minister Abdul Hameed Dabaiba in Istanbul, at the Dolmabahçe Palace on the European shore of the Bosporus. Its main focus was on migration, but regional stability and trilateral cooperation were also addressed.
On the Turkish side, senior officials such as Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, National Intelligence Organization (MİT) Director İbrahim Kalın, and Presidential Advisor Akif Çağatay Kılıç were included in the delegation. President Erdoğan emphasized the importance of trilateral collaboration in addressing shared challenges, particularly ‘irregular migration flows’. He said that long-term and sustainable solutions must target the root causes of migration and require broad international coordination.
Italian Prime Minister Meloni praised the cooperation with Turkey on containing migration. She underscored the opportunity to build on the lessons learned from this cooperation, including applying them to support the Government of National Unity’s (GNU) work on migration. Meloni set out several potential initiatives to combat human trafficking networks, deter irregular migration and support Libya in dealing with mounting migration pressures. She also reaffirmed Italy’s commitment to the stability, unity and independence of Libya and its support for a Libyan-led political process, facilitated by UNSMIL, that can result in elections.
Libyan Prime Minister Dabaiba underscored Libya’s intention to rebuild its role as a trusted regional partner, pointing to signs of improving political and security conditions at home. He outlined his government’s actions to dismantle smuggling networks and ‘unlawful armed groups’. He said these efforts aim to restore state authority, protect national institutions from interference, and establish law-based governance. Dabaiba praised its cooperation with Turkey and emphasized that with the help of Turkish-supplied drones, Libya is better equipped to secure its territory and borders.
Highlighting the need for regional coordination, Dabaiba proposed a four-nation ministerial meeting on migration, including Qatar, to unify efforts around logistics, humanitarian aid, and technical support. This proposal includes collaboration on repatriation efforts, intelligence sharing on irregular migration routes, and taking down transnational criminal organizations. In concluding his remarks, Dabaiba emphasized that the GNU is now in a stronger political position and capable of playing a balanced and responsible regional role. He added that the tripartite summit clearly demonstrates political support for the Libyan state’s sovereign path and confirms the growing international recognition of its efforts to consolidate stability and cooperation in the Mediterranean basin.
All three leaders agreed to intensify collaboration on illegal migration, immediately continuing working at a technical level to identify concrete joint actions, within a clearly defined time frame. A series of measures to fight international criminal networks of human traffickers, to improve work to prevent irregular movements, and to support Libya in managing the migration pressure it is facing were discussed.