Turkey to reopen embassy in Libyan capital soon

TRIPOLI – Anadolu Agency

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Turkey will soon reopen its embassy in the Libyan capital of Tripoli, a senior diplomat said Nov. 10. 

“Soon we will open our embassy in Tripoli and resume work,” the undersecretary of the Turkish Embassy in Libya, Tufan Höbek, said Nov. 10. 

Höbek’s remarks came as the prime minister of Libya’s U.N.-backed unity government, Fayez al-Sarraj, received Turkey’s ambassador to Tripoli, Ahmet Aydın Doğan.

During the meeting at the al-Hamra Palace in Tripoli, Doğan submitted his letter of credentials to Sarraj. 

Höbek said Doğan would return to Tunisia, where he is temporarily conducting his work. 

On July 25, 2014, Turkey suspended operations at its Tripoli embassy as the security situation in the country deteriorated. 

Libya has been locked in a state of violence and turmoil since 2011, when a bloody popular uprising ended with the fall and death of longtime strongman Moammar Gadhafi.        

Since then, the country’s stark political divisions have yielded two rival seats of government – one in Tobruk and another in Tripoli – each of which boasts its own military capacity and legislative assembly. 

Late last year, Libya’s rival governments signed a U.N.-backed agreement to establish a unity government in an effort to resolve the country’s six-year political standoff.