Turkey blasts move for Libya sanctions
Turkey's prime minister yesterday raised strong objections to imposing sanctions on Libya, arguing that innocent people would suffer and accusing world powers of making 'calculations' based on oil.
"Any intervention will make the process even more difficult. It will harm not the administration but the Libyan people. You cannot secure world peace by resorting to sanctions in each and every incident," Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a televised public speech in Istanbul.
"We call on the international community to approach Libya not with concerns about oil but with conscience, justice and universal human values," he said.
"We call on the international community to stop making various calculations over Libya and work for a remedy to stop the suffering of the Libyan people," he said without elaborating.
Erdogan spoke after a telephone conversation with US President Barack Obama on Friday evening. Washington has already imposed personal sanctions on Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi and four of his sons.
The UN Security Council was to meet yesterday to consider a sanctions resolution against Gaddafi in a bid to halt his bloody crackdown against opposition protesters.
Britain, France, Germany and the United States have drawn up a resolution which says the attacks on civilians could amount to crimes against humanity. It calls for an arms embargo and a travel ban and assets freeze against Gaddafi and his entourage.
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