Int'l Law Will Determine Future Of Libya: Turkey

The vice president of Turkey on Wednesday underlined that international law would determine Libya's future.

"Putschists should know that it will be on the legitimate basis of international law that will determine the future of peace in Libya," Fuat Oktay said, adding that with Tripoli's "decisive stance" and Turkey's support, all "games and traps have been thwarted."

Oktay said Turkey would back "its Libyan brothers until peace, tranquility and justice are established in the country."

He emphasized that those who until now "could not propose any approach towards resolution" to the conflict between the war-torn country's internationally recognized government and renegade general Khalifa Haftar now "began to sound" as Haftar began to lose territory.

Libya has been torn by a civil war since the ouster of late ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The country's new government was founded in 2015 under a UN-led agreement, but efforts for a long-term political settlement failed due to a military offensive by Haftar's forces.

The UN recognizes the Libyan government headed by Fayez al-Sarraj as the country's legitimate authority as Tripoli battles Haftar's militias.

The government had launched Operation Peace Storm last March to counter Haftar's attacks on Tripoli and recently liberated strategic locations including Tarhuna, his final stronghold in western Libya.

Writing by Dilara Hamit -