Davutoğlu to go to Benghazi following important meetings

Turkish diplomatic sources have pointed out that the visit would go ahead following the recent report that a British-led team has been planning and making recommendations for Libya after the conflict ends.

An international team, led by Britain, and supported by the United States, Italy, Denmark, Turkey, Australia and Canada, has spent several weeks in rebel-held eastern Libya to assess Libya's needs once the war is over, assuming Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is ousted.

The team drew up a report, which was sent to Libya's rebel National Transitional Council (NTC) on June 27, and which is expected to be presented at the next meeting of the International Contact Group on Libya in İstanbul on July 15.

Davutoğlu, who was in Budva, Montenegro on Wednesday to attend a meeting of the heads of state and governments of the South-East European Cooperation Process (SEECP), had talks with NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen to discuss Turkish-NATO relations and recent developments surrounding the NATO-led military campaign against Libyan forces loyal to Gaddafi, Turkish diplomatic sources have said.

The state-run Anatolia news agency reported late on Wednesday that while Rasmussen spoke about NATO's military operation in Libya, Davutoğlu briefed Rasmussen about the International Contact Group's meeting on Libya slated for July in Turkey.

In addition, Davutoğlu met with Germany's Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle on Friday at the invitation of Davutoğlu to have talks concerning bilateral relations, recent developments in the region and stalled Turkish-EU ties.

A Turkish Foreign Ministry statement said on Wednesday that it is believed that Westerwelle's visit will help further strengthen and develop multi-dimensional relations and comprehensive cooperation between Turkey and Germany.

Westerwelle met the Libyan rebel leader Mahmoud Jibril on Thursday. Germany recently recognized Jibril's NTC as Libya's legitimate representative.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry says that while it sees the NTC as “a legal and credible representative” of the Libyan people, it does not see it as the sole representative.