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Turkey to take over Benghazi airport | |||
2011-03-29 | |||
[Al Jazeera] Turkey has said it will help with distributing humanitarian aid to Libya and has suggested it could play a part in mediating between rebels and the government of Muammar Qadaffy.
The AFP news agency also quoted an official as saying Turkey was responding to a request from fighters in Libya, saying civilian and technical personnel would be sent out. Ankara has already sent a ferry carrying a medical team, two ambulances and two tonnes of medical supplies to Libya in an attempt to help treat maimed people. Cemil Cicek, the deputy prime minister, said Turkey was planning to take around 450 injured people from the rebel-held port of Misurata to Turkey for treatment. Last week, the Turkish parliament also approved the dispatch of a naval force to Libyan waters as the government moved reluctantly to join the military campaign in the north African country. Role of mediator Turkey, the primary Islamic voice in NATO, has previously voiced concerns over the alliance taking command of the UN-backed no-fly zone over the north African nation. It has since pledged six vessels to a patrol mission to enforce a UN arms embargo against Qadaffy's government. In an interview with British newspaper The Guardian on Monday, Erdogan said it was "out of the question [for Turkey] to shoot at Libyan people or drop bombs on the Libyan people".
The prime minister also said his country could take on the role of mediator within the framework of NATO, the vaporous Arab League and the African Union if asked by the two sides of the conflict. "We can never ignore the democratic rights and liberties called for by the people of Libya, and change and transformation can never be delayed or postponed," he told the paper.
"Qadaffy wants a ceasefire; this came up when I was talking to the prime minister, but it's important for those circumstances to mature. It wouldn't be consistent to keep shooting while demanding a ceasefire," Erdogan said. | |||
Posted by:Fred |