QA-5, 24 February 2015

The decision of expelling the Turkish companies from Libya, as stated in the Libyan press, does not have any merit, when the political and security crisis and the continuing legitimacy debate in the country are taken into consideration.

As one of the parties called upon to strive for the establishment of peace and stability in Libya and the prosperity of the Libyan people, the Transitional Government, quite to the contrary, targets the Turkish companies operating in Libya for the development of the country and for the benefit of the brotherly Libyan people. It is obvious that this approach does not reflect the feelings of the brotherly people of Libya towards Turkey.

In any case, we will continue to pursue before the Libyan authorities the issues such as protection of the rights of Turkey and Turkish citizens stemming from agreements and contracts, recovery of debts of Turkish companies and compensation of losses.

Turkey will continue to support the UN-facilitated dialogue process for the resolution of the crisis in Libya. We call upon all Libyan parties to contribute constructively to the process. Particularly the third parties should refrain from acts, interventions and attitudes that may damage the dialogue process, for the security, stability and prosperity to be established in Libya.