ANKARA, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Turkey and Italy will work together to maintain peace in Libya, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Friday.
Ankara wanted to work together with Rome for a lasting peace and a political process in Libya, as well as on meeting Libya's energy requirements such as electricity, Cavusoglu said at a joint press conference with his visiting Italian counterpart Luigi Di Maio.
The Italian minister, for his part, stressed that all the warring parties in Libya should respect the arms embargo and not deploy mercenaries.
He also said that the UN should assign an envoy for Libya as soon as possible.
Turkey backs the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) led by Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj and has signed a military cooperation agreement with it to support its fight against General Khalifa Haftar. Turkey sent military officials to Libya as part of this accord.
Libya has been locked in a civil war since the ouster and killing of former leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, and has been divided between the powers of GNA and the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA) led by Haftar.
