The Turkish Foreign Ministry made an appeal to the international community to respond to Libya’s eastern commander Khalifa Haftar’s move to declare himself the ruler of Libya, saying he wants to establish a military dictatorship, reported The Libya Observer.
The appeal was made after Haftar termed the landmark 2015 United Nations-brokered agreement “a thing of the past” on Monday. He said he “accepted the will of the people” and vowed to create a new government.
In a televised address, Haftar said the political agreement destroyed the country and that he will work to create the conditions for building permanent civic institutions,.
In the statement, the Turkish Foreign Ministry expressed Ankara’s desire for a political solution to the conflict and conveyed its support for the Libyan people.
“With this announcement, Haftar once again revealed that he does not want the crisis in Libya to be resolved via political dialogue, that he does not support international efforts in this direction, including the outcome of the Berlin Conference, and aims to establish a military dictatorship in the country,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement released on Wednesday.
The statement added that Haftar deteriorated the humanitarian situation further with his attacks in Libya for over a year now.
Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) launched an offensive to take control of the capital from the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) in April 2019.
In related news, Haftar’s LNA on Wednesay agreed to halt the ongoing fighting during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
During a news conference, Ahmed al-Mismari, a spokesman of Haftar’s forces, said they have stopped all military operations across Libya in response to international appeals for a humanitarian truce so authorities could focus on dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.
The clashes between the warring sides have complicated efforts to fight the coronavirus outbreak. Libya has confirmed more than 60 cases, including two deaths.
