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Category: Libya

Turkey Nudges Gadhafi Regime

By MARC CHAMPION in Istanbul and CHARLES LEVINSON in Benghazi, Libya

Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday came closer than before to calling for Col. Moammar Gadhafi’s removal from power, amid wide criticism over Ankara’s Libya policy.

“A comprehensive democratic transformation process that takes into account the legitimate interests of Libyan people should start immediately. The aim of this process should be to settle constitutional order that people freely elect their rulers,” Mr. Erdogan said in televised remarks.

But the comments weren’t well received in Libya, where Turkey’s strong reputation in the Middle East has been taking a beating.

“It’s not enough,” said rebel spokeswoman Iman Bugaighis. “We need action, not talk. The street is boiling and no one can understand the Turkish position.”

Rebel leaders have complained openly in recent days about Turkey’s reticence in directly tackling the Gadhafi regime, regarding Ankara a key obstacle to their efforts to goad the international community to intervene more decisively on their behalf.

Turkey’s hesitant, and sometimes contradictory, approach to the Libyan uprising has contrasted strongly with its early calls for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to resign in February and has triggered criticism in some Arab media.

Rebel leaders Thursday also accused Ankara of providing food aid to loyalist soldiers and obstructing NATO’s air campaign at the risk of Libyan lives.

At a news conference in Bengahzi on Thursday, a senior rebel medical official waved in the air a military-ration food packet, which he said was recently found amid the supplies carried by captured loyalist soldiers on the front lines.

The packet had Turkish labels on it and a production date that indicated it was manufactured in January. The official said that suggested Ankara was helping to supply the forces of Col. Gadhafi.

“We found this food with Gadhafi soldiers,” the medical official, Dr. Gebril Hewadi, said. “It’s newly produced and it’s from Turkey. I think there is a special agenda between Col. Gadhafi and the Turkish government.”

“While our civilians are being killed, Turkey is distributing food to Gadhafi’s militias,” rebel spokeswoman Iman Bugaighis added. “Turkey needs to stand on the right side of history.”

It wasn’t possible to verify the claim or to determine how the Turkish food might have ended up with Gadhafi troops.

On Tuesday, a rebel aid ship carrying food, medicine and weapons from Benghazi to Misrata was intercepted in international waters by a Turkish naval vessel and forced to turn around, according to rebel officials and journalists on board the boat. Turkish warships are stationed off the coast to enforce an arms embargo on Libya.

Much of the rebel anger appears to stem from a belief that Turkey is behind what they perceive as NATO reluctance to provide air cover to rebels troops since the Western military alliance took over command of the operation from the U.S. “The Libyan people hold Turkey responsible for that,” said Hafiz Abdel Goga, a member of the rebels’ provisional governing body, the Transitional National Council.

Turkey is a NATO member and was vocal is seeking transfer of the air operation’s command from the U.S. and French-led coalition that first imposed the Libyan no-fly zone.

Coalition jets also attacked loyalist columns as they approached opposition centers, something the rebels say NATO has been hesitant to do.

“As in all NATO operations, a commander was assigned to this operation and that commander is an American. There is no way that one country can interfere with that commander’s operational decisions,” said Selcuk Unal, a spokesman for the Turkish foreign ministry, denying the charge.

Turkey initially rejected the idea of any NATO military intervention in Libya, but has since appeared to backpedal as events on the ground changed and it found itself diplomatically isolated. Turkish companies snapped up more than $7 billion in construction contracts in Libya over the past two years and Turkish leaders had built a strong relationship with the Gadhafi regime.

“This is the first time Turkish foreign policy in the region is facing a real challenge where it has to choose… Gadhafi has to go and the question is will Turkey join in pushing with its NATO allies or not?” said Huseyin Bagci, head of the international relations program at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara.

Turkish policy has led to criticism from some media in Arab countries, such as Egypt and Qatar. A column in Qatar’s Al-Watan newspaper on Thursday accused Turkey of “wasting time” with its Libyan negotiation efforts, despite knowing that “there is no room at all for gathering the [opposition] National Council and Al-Qadhafi’s family at one table.”

Qatar has spearheaded Arab support for military intervention in Libya.

Mr. Unal dismissed an anti-Turkish demonstration by Libyan doctors in Benghazi on Wednesday as “a small group,” and defended Turkey’s more cautious diplomacy. Turkish officials also have questioned privately whether Wednesday’s demonstration was spontaneous, noting that just hours earlier a Turkish ship had collected hundreds of wounded rebels for evacuation and treatment in Turkey.

That aid effort only appeared to trigger more opposition anger, however. Rebel officials said the ship was ill-equipped, and wounded patients received no medical treatment, forcing rebels in Benghazi to pull their own doctors away from hospitals to treat wounded on the boat. Turkey said the ferry had a medical staff of 15 on board including eight doctors, and ambulances and extensive medical aid.

Turkey later tried to send an aide ship to Benghazi with food and medicine, but the rebel leadership turned it away. “We said thank you very much and refused to accept it,” said Ms. Bugaighis, the rebel spokeswoman. “We don’t accept aid from governments that refuse to help stop the killing of our people.”

—Margaret Coker contributed to this article.

Write to Marc Champion at marc.champion@wsj.com and Charles Levinson at charles.levinson@wsj.com

April 8, 2011
Gaddafi should step down

Turkey wants Moammar Gaddafi to step down as the ruler of Libya, according to the Turkish Foreign Ministry, in the wake of discussions with both Libyan government officials and representatives of the opposition.

* (Photo: Reuters)<br>Libyan doctors attend a demonstration in front of Turkish embassy in Benghazi

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(Photo: Reuters)

Libyan doctors attend a demonstration in front of Turkish embassy in Benghazi

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“We are not in favor of the Gaddafi family’s rule continuing in Libya. A new administration should be set up in line with the Libyan people’s demands,” an official from the Turkish Foreign Ministry told the Hürriyet Daily News, a Turkish newspaper based in Ankara.

On Tuesday, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu met Mahmoud Jibril, a leader of Libyan opposition member, in Qatar to discuss a possible ceasefire in Libya.

“We are looking for common ground, a starting point but both sides [in the Libyan conflict] have lots of objections,” a Turkish official said. “Our efforts aim to achieve an immediate truce, then a political negotiation between the parties and a new administration that will take power following an election.”

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The prior day, Davutoglu met with Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Abdelati Obeidi, with a message that Gaddafi wanted to end the civil war,

Separately, Turkish officials told Jibril that they were dismayed by anti-Turkish protests in Benghazi, Libya.

Rebel forces attacked the Turkish consulate in that city, and demanded the lowering of the Turkish flag. Protesters also blasted Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as a “persona non grata.”

Last week, Erdogan insisted that Libyan rebels should not be armed by NATO.

Protesters in Benghazi chanted, “The revolutionaries want arms,” “Erdoğan don’t be blithe, look at Misrata” and “Erdoğan, don’t talk to Gaddafi.”

“The protestors are saying that Erdogan disappointed them and are urging him to take his place alongside the Libyan revolutionaries,” said Turkish Consul Ali Davutoğlu.

Turkey’s former ambassador to Libya, Ömer Şölendil, was sent to Benghazi by Erdoğan to consult with Mustafa Abdul Jalil, head of the rebel group Transitional National Council.

“Jibril also expressed regret over the protests and said they could not control all the groups in Benghazi,” a Turkish official said.

Meanwhile, Turkey has taken control of the Benghazi airport in order to facilitate conduct humanitarian relief missions in Libya.

On Tuesday, two Turkish airplanes carried more than 500 wounded Libyans to Turkey for medical treatment.

via Gaddafi should step down: Turkey – International Business Times.

April 7, 2011
Turkey pursues its Libya mediation efforts despite setbacks – The National

Thomas Seibert

Last Updated: Apr 7, 2011

ISTANBUL // Faced with anti-Turkish demonstrations in Benghazi and a stubbornness to enter talks from the warring sides in Libya, Turkey is soldiering on with mediation attempts to end the conflict in the north African nation. But the government in Ankara is showing signs of frustration with the lack of progress.

Turkey has invested much work and prestige into its efforts to find a political solution to the military confrontation between Colonel Muammar Qaddafi and the opposition in Libya, arguing that the use of soft power will prove to be more efficient than western air strikes.

Turkish officials, after weeks of trying to bring the Qaddafi camp and the opposition together, have expressed disappointment about the lack of common ground between the two sides.

Ahmet Davutoglu, the Turkish foreign minister, told reporters accompanying him on a trip through several Middle Eastern countries that Turkey is pursuing a three-fold strategy in Libya, according to news reports yesterday.

via Turkey pursues its Libya mediation efforts despite setbacks – The National.

April 7, 2011
Tulin Daloglu: Turkey’s Influence in a Changing Middle East Is Limited

For the last few years Turkey has been trying to sell itself as the re-shaper of the Middle East. But now that the region is reshaping itself in dramatic and unexpected ways, the late, lame and confusing responses of Prime Minister Recep Tayip Erdogan’s government show that Turkey’s renewed activism in its Muslim neighbourhood has not gone very far.

No one knows how the Arab Spring will end — but it’s clear that with this awakening, the Arab people have nullified all of the narratives that others have used to describe them. Their endless tolerance and surrender to victimhood at the hands of their authoritarian rulers finally ran out. Many feel so desperate that they no longer care whether they lose their lives by taking to the streets. Since February, thousands have indeed paid the ultimate price, but with a purpose: they want change.

Turkey was surprised by this Arab uprising. For years now, Erdogan has tried to play to the Arab street like an Ottoman sultan. He has accused Israel of being a terrorist state murdering Palestinians, scoring points off an easy and unpopular target, especially when he stormed off the stage at the World Economic Forum in Davos after a heated debate with the Israeli president over Gaza.

He has provoked controversy in other ways too, for instance he has said that a Muslim cannot commit genocide, and the situation in Darfur can’t be considered one. Erdogan has even received a human rights award from Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi.

But he has always defended the status quo in the Arab region and never questioned the Muslim leadership in any of these countries. And although Erdogan was quick to call for Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak to step down, he could not display such a muscular and forceful attitude toward the Libyan leader. Erdogan had a bad personal relationship with Mubarak, but Turkish firms have business deals in Libya worth more than 15 billion US dollars.

via Tulin Daloglu: Turkey’s Influence in a Changing Middle East Is Limited.

April 7, 2011
Turkey Plays Mediator in Libya Crisis

By MARC CHAMPION

ISTANBUL—The Libyan regime and leaders of the rebel opposition are each offering proposals on how to reach a cease-fire in the Arab nation’s conflict, a Turkish official said Monday, as an envoy from Col. Moammar Gadhafi arrived in Ankara for talks.

Libya’s rebel government in Benghazi has indicated it also will visit Ankara to discuss a possible cease-fire, in the wake of Monday’s visit by Deputy Foreign Minister Abdelati al-Obeidi, the Turkish official said. No date for the visit had been set, he said.

Mr. Obeidi, deputy to recently defected Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa, wasn’t carrying any personal message from Col. Gadhafi, according to the official, countering speculation in Turkish media that terms for Col. Gadhafi’s exit from Libya might be under negotiation. Others have cautioned the visit by Libya’s official could be another delay tactic by Col. Gadhafi as he presses with an offensive against the rebels on the ground.

In a news conference following the decision by Italy to recognize the governing body of rebel forces as Libya’s sole “legitimate interlocutor,” the country’s foreign minister said the offer by Col. Gadhafi’s envoy was “not credible.”

Italy became the third country to recognize the rebel group, after France and Qatar, as Rome seeks a way to re-establish its access to Libyan oil and natural gas. Speaking at a news conference after meeting with Ali al-Essawi, the foreign envoy of the rebel-backed Libyan National Transitional Council, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Italy planned to send an envoy to Libya in the coming days. He also said Italy is also seeking to send medical supplies and other aid to the embattled Libyan city of Misrata.

Rome’s support is a boost to rebel forces, because Italy is Libya’s biggest trading partner and the biggest buyer of the North African country’s oil and natural-gas supplies.

Mr. Frattini said Paolo Scaroni, chief executive of Italian oil giant Eni Spa, recently traveled to Benghazi to meet with council members and discuss plans to revive the oil company’s operations in Libya. But a foreign ministry spokesman said Mr. Scaroni spoke to council members over the phone without traveling to Benghazi, adding that Mr. Frattini had misspoken. An Eni spokesman declined to comment.

U.K. Foreign Secretary William Hague said Monday that the first meeting of the political ‘Contact Group’ on Libya that was agreed at the London Conference last week will take place next week in Doha, Qatar.

Mr. Hague told the U.K. Parliament that while Britain is not arming opposition forces it is prepared to supply “non-lethal equipment” and will be supplying the Interim Transitional National Council with telecommunications equipment.

Mr. Hague also said that since Thursday a total of 701 sorties and 276 strike sorties have been conducted over Libya.

Rebel forces on Monday took back much of Brega, a strategic oil town that has repeatedly changed hands over weeks of fighting with Col. Gadhafi’s forces, the Associated Press reported. Women and children were seen fleeing the coastal town as the battle raged.

In Turkey, Mr. Obeidi arrived by coincidence as North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen was in the capital. Mr. Rasmussen spent an hour each in talks with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

Turkey has been a reluctant supporter of Western military intervention in Libya, and its leaders were furious at being initially sidelined by the Western allies from decision-making. Turkish officials were tight-lipped about the content of Monday’s discussions. A spokesman for Mr. Erdogan said the talks with Mr. Rasmussen concerned “how to bring peace to Libya in line with United Nations Security Council resolutions 1970 and 1973.”

The resolutions, adopted in February and March, imposed sanctions on the Libyan regime and called for a cease-fire, while also imposing an arms embargo, a no-fly zone and a mandate to use “all necessary means” to protect civilians.

In a statement to reporters after the meeting, Mr. Davutoglu called he Libya talks with Mr. Rasmussen “extensive,” but focused his remarks on Turkey’s efforts to evacuate the wounded from Misrata and fromBenghazi.

According to Mr. Davutoglu, Turkey had been trying for a week to dock a ship in Misrata, but succeeded in getting security pledges from both sides only on Friday. The ship docked in Misrata on Saturday, and collected 250 wounded there before receiving more in Benghazi. It was expected to arrive in Turkey on Tuesday with a total of about 475 passengers, Mr. Davutoglu said.

Turkey is taking a leading role in the humanitarian side of the NATO operation and is active in enforcing a UN-imposed arms embargo, but not the no-fly zone. Turkey is a NATO member and has the alliance’s second largest military.

From makeshift beds inside the cruise-ship-turned-hospital, dozens of men, many nursing gunshot wounds and missing limbs, lay on thin mats in the ship’s hull, speaking of brutal government attacks and young rebels struggling to fend them off, according to the AP.

Mohammed Abu Libous, 37, said he and seven relatives were working in a bakery on the outskirts of Misrata, rebel forces’ last major stronghold in western Libya, when about 20 of Col. Gadhafi troops entered in three tanks and started harassing local residents, the AP reported.

They entered his shop and told him and his brother to surrender their weapons. When they said they had none, the troops took them out in the street. They shot his brother through the stomach and him once in each thigh, he said.

“While I was on the ground bleeding, they bound the others and took them away,” he said, adding that the troops stole all their money, cell phones and rings.

Misrata, 125 miles southeast of the capital Tripoli, was one of two western cities that rose up early in the revolt against Col. Gadhafi. His elite forces besieged Misrata for weeks, cutting off food and water supplies and power lines, but the rebels have stood their ground.

After initially dismissing the prospect of NATO military intervention as “nonsense,” Mr. Erdogan has since pushed for the alliance to take over control of the U.S.- and French-led no-fly zone, suggesting that some countries involved were more concerned about securing oil supplies than in the plight of Libyan civilians.

Mr. Obeidi visited Greece on Sunday, and will travel from Ankara to Malta, delivering the same ideas in each place, according to the Turkish official. He said Turkey would listen to what the Libyan had to say rather than entering into any immediate negotiation. All three countries have been traditionally friendly to the Libyan regime.

In Greece, Mr. Obeidi met with Prime Minister George Papandreou. The Turkish official said Mr. Obeidi wouldn’t meet with Mr. Erdogan but with the foreign ministry.

—Stacy Meichtry in Rome and Alistair MacDonald in London contributed to this article.

Write to Marc Champion at marc.champion@wsj.com

April 5, 2011
Libya: Turkish ship rescues injured from Misrata
Misrata evacuees share their stories with the BBC’s Christian Fraser

4 April 2011 Last updated at 04:25 GMT

Libya: Turkish ship rescues injured from Misrata

Misrata evacuees share their stories with the BBC’s Christian Fraser
Continue reading the main story
Libya Crisis

As it happened: Friday

Frontline hospital

How war is being funded

Challenges facing coalition
A Turkish humanitarian ship carrying more than 250 injured people from the Libyan city of Misrata has arrived in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.

Misrata, the only city in the west still controlled by the rebels, has been under siege by forces loyal to Col Muammar Gaddafi for several weeks.

Doctors on board the ship said many people had extremely serious injuries.

Meanwhile, the eastern oil town of Brega has seen continued fighting between rebels and pro-Gaddafi forces.

A BBC correspondent says an uneasy stalemate is developing.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

We have no water, no electricity. We don’t have medicine. There are snipers everywhere”

End Quote Ibrahim al-Aradi Injured Misrata resident

Government troops are reported to be holding ground near its university, but are reluctant to engage rebels because of the risk of Nato air strikes.

The poorly armed and disorganised rebel forces are unable or unwilling to push on towards Brega and are calling for more help from the West.

Libya’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Abdul Ati al-Obeidi, has told the Greek prime minister that Col Gaddafi wants the fighting to end.

“From the Libyan envoy’s comments it appears that the regime is seeking a solution,” Greek Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas told reporters.

Mr Droutsas said Athens had stressed the international community’s call for Libya to comply with UN Security Council resolution 1973, which authorised military intervention to protect civilians.

The Libyan envoy would be going on to Turkey on Monday and then Malta to continue his diplomatic contacts, he added.

Amputations

Turkey’s Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, ordered the Ankara, a car ferry that had been turned into a makeshift hospital, into Misrata on Sunday after it had spend four days waiting for permission to dock.

Twelve-year-old Muhammad was peppered with shrapnel when a rocket exploded near him

The ship, which was also carrying medical supplies for doctors in Misrata, arrived under cover from 10 Turkish F-16 fighter jets and two navy frigates, Turkish consular official Ali Akin told the Reuters news agency.

With heavily armed Turkish police special forces standing by, the injured people were taken aboard and laid on mattresses on one of the car decks, above which saline drips were hung. Some were accompanied by their relatives.

Mr Akin said the ship had to leave early after a large crowd – including hundreds of Egyptians – pressed forward on the quayside hoping to escape.

The BBC’s Jon Leyne, who went on board the Ankara, says many of the patients have extremely serious injuries, including some amputations.

One man lost part of his leg in an explosion as he was taking his wife into hospital for treatment. A 13-year-old boy described how he was shot by a sniper. A 12 year old was peppered with shrapnel when a rocket exploded near him when he and his brother were on their way to the market.

Mohammed Muftah, who had shrapnel wounds on his legs, back and neck, said Col Gaddafi’s troops had “killed entire families”.

“I have a neighbour who lost his wife and his three children,” he told the AFP news agency. “They did it just to terrorise people.”

Our correspondent says everyone had stories of the ever worsening conditions in Misrata. They told him that much of the city had no water or electricity and no-one was safe from shelling or sniper-fire.

As the ship arrived in Benghazi several hundred rebel supporters waved and cheered on the quayside

“It is very, very bad. In my street, Gaddafi bombed us,” Ibrahim al-Aradi, who had wounds in his groin, told Reuters. “We have no water, no electricity. We don’t have medicine. There are snipers everywhere.”

Doctors on board say medical care conditions Misrata were inadequate, and that more than 200 people had been killed and hundreds more wounded. One unconfirmed report said 160 may have died this week.

At least one person was killed and several wounded early on Sunday when government forces shelled a building in Misrata, a resident told Reuters.

As the ship arrived in Benghazi several hundred rebel supporters waiting on the quayside chanted: “The blood of martyrs is spilled for freedom.”

The Ankara would pick up about 100 more wounded before setting sail for the Turkish port of Cesme, where the casualties would be treated in a well-equipped, well-supplied, modern hospital, officials said.

Stalemate

To the east of Benghazi, government troops continued to hold ground near the university in Brega, trading rocket and artillery fire with the rebels.

The BBC’s Orla Guerin reports on the stalemate developing near Brega

The rebel Transitional National Council has appealed for new Nato air strikes, as well as weapons and military training to be provided by foreign governments.

They have acknowledged that rebel fighters firing in the air through lack of discipline could have provoked the Nato air strike on a rebel convoy on Friday, which left at least 13 people dead.

The rebel military commanders say they are trying to bring a new professionalism to its military campaign. Road blocks have been set up close to the frontline and only soldiers with at least some training are allowed through.

Iman Bugaighis, a spokeswoman for the rebel council, told the BBC: “We have reorganised our troops. Now the army is in the front and then followed by our volunteers who are fighting with the army.”

Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa meanwhile called for a swift end to the conflict, even if it meant offering Col Gaddafi safe haven in another country.
April 4, 2011