The closure came following attacks on British and Italian diplomatic missions in the Libyan capital over the weekend after a NATO airstrike killed relatives of Col. Moammar Gadhafi.
“Due to the change in the security situation in Libya and the great security risk it poses, our embassy has stopped functioning temporarily and has been evacuated,” Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu told reporters Monday.
The decision was made late Sunday and Ambassador Levent Şahinkaya and the embassy staff had arrived in Tunisia on Monday morning, he said. “Of course, this does not mean that Turkey’s efforts [to solve the turmoil in Libya] will be halted,” Davutoğlu added.
Turkey’s decision to shut down its embassy came following an increase in attacks by angry crowds after a NATO operation Saturday allegedly attempted to assassinate Col. Gadhafi, instead killing one of his sons and three grandchildren.
Turkey has tried to mediate between the Libyan administration and opposition groups in order to declare a cease-fire and launch a transformation process for reforms. Ankara’s “road map” has, however, failed to produce any results. Davutoğlu said Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was planning to make a substantial statement on Turkey’s efforts to stabilize Libya ahead of the Libya Contact Group meeting slated for Wednesday in Rome.
Closing down the embassy in Tripoli demonstrates an inability for Turkey to keep open communication channels open with the Gadhafi administration based in Tripoli and dissidents based in Benghazi, and may auger poorly for the future of its road map.
Turkey’s road map, which prioritized reaching a truce between the parties, was rejected by Benghazi for not demanding Gadhafi and his family step aside. Following the announcement of the road map, some groups protested Turkey in front of its consulate building.
Turkey subsequently signaled a shift in its position by calling more loudly on Gadhafi and his family to step down and pave the way for defusing the tension, but the closure of the embassy suggests such efforts may have fallen short.
More NATO attacks in Tripoli?
Turkey had been resisting shutting down its embassy in Tripoli, which was also representing the United States, the United Kingdom and Italy. As a member of NATO, Turkey’s decision to leave Tripoli sparked questions about whether the alliance will intensify its military operation against targets in the Libyan capital.
Turkey expressed its concerns after the killing of Gadhafi’s son without directly criticizing NATO’s attacks. In an obvious disagreement with France and United Kingdom, Turkey has insisted on a more careful selection of targets in order not to hurt civilians.
In the second Iraq war, Turkey was the only Western country to keep its embassy open, even during the fiercest military clashes.
Revision of Libya policy
The closure of the embassy in Tripoli in the wake of the NATO airstrike could push Turkey to revise its policy toward the Libyan crisis. Erdoğan will likely give the first clues on any shift in the position Tuesday or Wednesday, messages that will be transmitted to the Western powers by Davutoğlu on Wednesday in Rome, where he will likely hold a bilateral meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton