PM Erdogan: "Ankara is ready to mediate a cease-fire in Libya"

Ankara is ready to act as a mediator to broker an early cease-fire in Libya, said Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in remarks published Sunday. "If the two parties to the conflict requested Turkey to play the role of mediator, the Turkish prime minister said 'we will take steps to do that' within the framework of NATO, the Arab League and African Union," said Britain's The Guardian. "We can never ignore the democratic rights and liberties called for by the people of Libya, and change and transformation can never be delayed or postponed," said Erdogan. He also expressed his concerns about recent developments in Libya, saying, "I'm afraid we could see another Afghanistan or a second Iraq emerging. When Western forces entered Afghanistan nearly 10 years ago, people were talking of it being over in days, and people said the same in Iraq. But a million have died and a civilization has as good as collapsed. We don't want to see a similar picture in Libya."