A Justice and Development Party (AK Party) deputy is to meet with representatives of Libya’s internationally recognized government in the eastern city of Bayda on Nov. 3, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement released on the same day.
Emrullah İşler, who is a former deputy prime minister, already visited Libya on Oct. 20-21 as the special representative of the Turkish president and government. During that visit, İşler became the first foreign official to meet with the country’s self-declared prime minister, Omar al-Hasi, since Libya’s internationally recognized government had been forced to move to Bayda after former insurgents from the western city of Misrata took over the capital Tripoli in August. The elected Libyan parliament, the House of Representatives, also moved to the east, to the city of Tobruk.
The Foreign Ministry statement said İşler could not visit Bayda earlier “due to technical reasons,” adding that he will have an “exchange of views with the prime minister and the foreign minister of the government of the House of Representatives.”
İşler’s visit is part of efforts to bring about a cease-fire between warring sides in Libya and establish dialogue by keeping channels with all parties in the country open, according to the Foreign Ministry statement.