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Turkey reopens embassy in Libya after two years

Xinhua, January 31, 2017 Adjust font size:

Turkey reopened its embassy in the Libyan capital Tripoli on Monday, more than two years after the mission was closed, Turkish Foreign Ministry announced in a statement.

"Activities of the Turkish embassy in Tripoli have resumed Monday with a reduced staff at the initial stage," the ministry said in a statement on its website.

Turkey closed its embassy in Tripoli and consulate in Benghazi for security reasons in 2014, as its consulate in Misrata, a town in northwest Libya, has remained open.

Preparations of reopening the mission have been supervised by Turkish Ambassador to Libya, Ahmet Aydin Dogan, who until now has been based in Tunis.

"The reopening of the embassy will allow Turkey to make bigger contributions to build peace and stability, as well as reconstruction in Libya," the statement added.

The reopening of the Turkish embassy in Tripoli comes months after Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu visited Libya on May 30, 2016 to issue an endorsement for a recently founded national government and start a process to reopen the embassy in Tripoli.

Turkey had high hopes for a strong alliance with Libya after the 2011 NATO-backed ouster of longtime strongman Muammar Gadhafi and was the first country to appoint an ambassador to the new authorities in Tripoli in September 2011. Endit