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Turkey's special envoy to Libya Emrullah İşler met on Tuesday with Omar al-Hasi, Libya's self-declared prime minister, in al-Hasi's first publicly known diplomatic meeting with a foreign representative.
Al-Hasi's government website showed a picture of the meeting in the prime minister's office between al-Hasi and İşler, a deputy in the Turkish Parliament. The office had been previously used by Abdullah al-Thinni.
Al-Thinni, the internationally recognized prime minister, was forced to the east of the country after Omar al-Hasi formed his own cabinet in the Libyan capital.
Libya has had two governments and parliaments competing for legitimacy since an armed group seized Tripoli in August.
Western and Arab countries withdrew their diplomatic personnel when fighting between the forces from the port city of Misrata and a rival group from the city of Zintan escalated in summer, as reported by Tunis news agency.
Western nations and Libya's neighbors worry the conflict will turn the North African country into a failed state or even spark civil war, as former rebels who helped oust Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 now fight for control.
The United Nations and Western countries have tried to bring both sides to the negotiating table to end the country's chaos but have avoided recognizing or dealing publicly with al-Hasi, who was elected by the rival assembly in Tripoli.
Several high-profile foreign officials, among them UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, visited Tripoli and Tobruk this month, but none have been publicly known to have met al-Hasi.
İşler had previously visited Tobruk, a town in Libya's east where the elected parliament allied with al-Thinni has moved.
Turkish Foreign Ministry spokespeople declined to comment.
(Cihan/Today's Zaman)
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