Libya's internationally recognized Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thani said his government would stop dealing with Turkey as it was sending weapons to a rival group in Tripoli so "the Libyan people kill each other", ramping up his rhetoric against Ankara.
Two administrations, one in the capital and Thani's in the east, have been vying for power since an armed group called Libya Dawn seized Tripoli in July and reinstated lawmakers from a previous assembly, four years after Moammar Gadhafi's ousting.
"Turkey is a state that is not dealing honestly with us. It's exporting weapons to us so the Libyan people kill each other," he told Egyptian TV channel CBC late Thursday.
A spokesman for Turkey's foreign ministry strongly denied Thani's allegations.
"Instead of repeating the same baseless and untrue allegations we advise them to support U.N. efforts for political dialogue," spokesman Tanju Bilgic told Reuters.
"Our policy vis-a-vis Libya is very clear. We are against any external intervention in Libya and we fully support the ongoing political dialogue process under U.N. mediation."
Thani's government said this week it would exclude companies from future deals, accusing Ankara of backing the Tripoli government and its allied armed groups.
He repeated that Turkish firms would be excluded from contracts in territory controlled by his government in the CBC interview, noting that any outstanding bills would be paid.
"We don't say we are hostile to Turkey but we say we don't deal with it," he said.
Turkey is one of a handful of countries which has publicly received officials from the Tripoli government and parliament.
Critics of Ankara say its Libya policy is an extension of a pro-Islamist agenda which has already seen relations sour with other former regional allies, notably Egypt.
Thani also accused Qatar of giving "material" support to the rival side in the Libyan conflict. He did not elaborate.
Army general Khalifa Haftar, who merged his forces with the army in the east to fight Islamist militants, is seen as a potential rival to Thani. While the alliance between the groups has enabled them to win back territory, Haftar has been criticized for airstrikes on civilian airports and seaports.
On Wednesday, a spokesman for Thani's parliament said the assembly's president would appoint Haftar as top army commander.
Thani also threatened new airstrikes with Egypt against the ISIS in his country, warning Friday that the jihadis were poised to widen their presence there.
Abdullah al-Thani was referring to February 16 airstrikes on the ISIS stronghold of Derna after the group released a video showing the beheading of 21 Coptic Christians, mostly Egyptians.
"Any time there is a danger and a threat, there will be air strikes, in complete coordination between Egypt and Libya," he said.
Asked if that meant Egyptian warplanes would take part, he said: "Of course I am speaking of Egyptian raids."
Using an Arabic acronym for ISIS, he said "Daesh is well-established in the region of Sirte and does not hide its presence in Tripoli. If troops are not provided with the weapons they need, the group will deploy throughout Libya."
Last week, Foreign Minister Mohammed al-Dairi appealed to the UN Security Council to lift an arms embargo on Libya to allow its military to fight jihadis.
He emphasised that he was not seeking international military intervention, but that there was no time to lose to equip the army to confront the emboldened extremists.
- See more at: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2015/Feb-27/289039-libyas-…
