Largest Turkish evacuation ever brings 5.000 home from Libya

More than 5,000 Turks have been taken out of Libya within 72 hours in the largest-ever evacuation in Turkey's history, amid growing unrest that has killed one Turkish worker, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said yesterday. The Turks were spirited out of crisis-hit Libya on ferries and charter and regular flights. Speaking at a press conference in a crisis room set up at the Foreign Ministry, Davutoglu said one Turkish citizen, a 27-year-old worker from the Black Sea city of Trabzon, had been killed in Tripoli. The Dogan news agency (DHA) reported that the worker was killed by long-range weapons fire while climbing a crane. Charter and regular flights have been arranged to evacuate 1,422 Turks from Tripoli, 429 from Benghazi and 248 from Alexandria, Egypt, while two ferries are transporting 3,000 Turks from Benghazi, Libya's second-largest city, Davutoglu said. He added that the Foreign Ministry is working to evacuate Turkish citizens from Libyan seaports to Egypt or Tunisia, where they could more easily be brought home on planes. News channel NTV yesterday reported that planes carrying close to 250 Turks had landed successfully in Turkey. Turkey has approximately 25,000 citizens living in Libya, where more than 200 Turkish companies are involved in construction projects worth some $15 billion. Some 4,000-5,000 Turkish citizens have requested evacuation from Libya, Davutoglu said, but added that the situation is in flux and such figures are constantly changing. Saying Turkey's number one priority is evacuating its citizens from critical areas of Libya, he asked Turks in other parts of the country not to panic. Stressing that Turkey is taking additional measures and has backup plans to ensure the safety of its citizens in Libya, Davutoglu said, "We're not abandoning Libya. We're taking security measures." No other country has conducted such an evacuation effort from Libya, Davutoglu stressed, adding that 21 other countries – including the US, Germany, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, France, China, Britain and Ukraine – have requested Turkey's help in evacuating their citizens. Turkey held two crisis meetings since the weekend to better coordinate its evacuation efforts. Davutoglu briefed Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday, while Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Cicek briefed the opposition parties. Davutoglu also called on the international community to show solidarity with the people of Libya during the critical transformation process it is undergoing.