Turkey’s state minister said on Wednesday that efforts were underway to bring all Turkish citizens in Libya back to Turkey.
"We will have a meeting on Thursday regarding developments in Libya," state minister Zafer Caglayan said while addressing a business meeting in Portugal on ’’Business Roundtable: Turkey’’
Caglayan said Turkey has been monitoring the developments on Libya, "Turkey does not interfere in internal affairs of a country. Turkey has important spiritual cultural relations and relations rooted in history with the countries that became a stage to the protests."
Caglayan said Turkey was more interested in the developments than other countries because there were nearly 200 Turkish companies and more than 25,000 Turkish citizens in Libya.
"Evacuation of Turkish citizens from Libya is of first priority for us. A crisis desk has been established in Turkey to this end and important meetings have been held," Caglayan said.
"Chaos and turmoil continue in Libya. Construction sites of some companies were devastated. Dormitories and dining halls of workers were set into fire and business vehicles were grabbed. Every kind of measures were taken under the leadership of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. We are trying to bring Turkish citizens to Turkey in the most secure way," Caglayan said.
Caglayan said a Turkish citizen lost his life unfortunately on Tuesday, "we want tranquility and peace to be restored in Libya soon."