Italian FM meets Turkish counterpart, underlines respect for arms embargo on Libya

ANKARA

Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio on July 19 underlined that all parties of the Libyan crisis should respect the arms embargo on the North African country.

“Both parties [of Libya] shall not continue deploying arms in a way that violates the embargo, continue not deploying mercenaries,” Di Maio said, speaking at a joint press conference with his Turkish counterpart Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu.

The Italian minister stressed a special U.N. envoy for the Libyan crisis should be assigned as soon as possible as a demonstration of importance attached by the international actors.

Italy sees Turkey as an “indispensable partner,” he said, welcoming the Turkish support to Italian people in the “worst weeks” of the COVID-19 outbreak in the Mediterranean country.

Çavuşoğlu, for his part, said Turkey wanted to work together with Italy on meeting Libya’s energy needs, such as electricity. The two countries could also cooperate in the eastern Mediterranean, he said.