Erdogan: "Turkey will never be a country pointing guns at Libyans"

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday made it clear that Turkey will not send combat forces to fight Libyans and expressed his opposition to the ongoing military campaign by Western powers, saying any foreign intervention in Libya should be humanitarian and nothing else and under the UN umbrella. "Turkey will never be a country pointing guns at Libyans," Erdogan told a meeting of his Justice and Development Party (AK Party) in Parliament. "We have been in touch with parties in Libya since the events first started. We've been in touch with both sides." He added, "We acted with maximum sensitivity to ensure that the transition in Libya was completed without bloodshed, as happened in Egypt and Tunisia. Unfortunately, this was not achieved. Of course we question and criticize the Paris summit (last weekend where the operation was decided on). The umbrella for humanitarian operations in Libya should be the United Nations. The operation should be run on legitimate grounds."