TRIPOLI: Turkey has been evacuating hundreds of citizens from Libya after a threat from a renegade general fighting Islamists in the east, Ankara’s embassy and airport officials said yesterday.
On Sunday, retired general Khalifa Haftar called on Turks and Qataris to leave anarchic eastern Libya within two days, accusing both their countries of supporting “terrorism”.
Haftar has declared war on Islamist militants in eastern Libya, deepening turmoil in the oil-producing state where the government is unable to control armed groups which helped oust Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 but defy state authority.
“Four hundred and twenty Turkish workers were evacuated today from Misrata International Airport ... due to the threats coming from the east that have been made by Khalifa Haftar’s forces,” said Mohamed Ismail, the airport’s spokesman.
The Turks were flown out by Turkish Airlines, he said, adding that they had worked for a power plant in the central city of Sirte.
A Turkish embassy official said the Turks had not felt safe anymore and that another 140 would be flown out from Labraq airport near Benghazi, the main city in the east. Benghazi airport has been closed for security reasons since mid-May.
Turkey and Qatar both have supported the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist movement that has been declared a “terrorist” organisation by Egypt and Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia.
The Tripoli government says Haftar has no authority to act but its orders are routinely ignored in much of Libya, above all in the east where Islamists, tribes and militias vie for control.
REUTERS
ISTANBUL: A Turkish court yesterday acquitted more than two dozen people in a retrial after they were convicted over an alleged coup plot in 2012 against Turkey’s Islamic-rooted government.
Last October, an appeals court ordered a retrial of 88 people, including former army chiefs, who had been sentenced to prison terms of up to 20 years.
The criminal court in Istanbul acquitted a total of 25 defendants, citing a lack of tangible, credible evidence against them, and decided to review the dossiers of the remaining suspects, the private Dogan news agency said.
AFP
