Turkish prime minister has said Turkey opposed placing the ongoing military operation in Libya under NATO's command, Anadolu News Agency reported.
"The United Nations should be the roof for the humanitarian operation in Libya. We will speak our mind to our allies in discussions at NATO," Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday told lawmakers of his ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party in a meeting at the parliament.
Erdogan said Turkey supported change, democracy, human rights and freedom of expression in the Middle East, adding their primary objective was to exert efforts to ensure Libya's domestic peace and Libyan people's prosperity.
"I would like to underline one crucial thing: Turkey will never be a side that would point a weapon on the Libyan people. Our relations with Libya are not driven by hunger for oil or mere interests," Erdogan said.
The Turkish premier said Turkey would continue to make any contribution to efforts aimed at securing peace in Libya. "Our concern is that the transformation in Libya unfolds peacefully. Our wish is that the Libyan people solve their issues by themselves not through foreign intervention."
Erdogan also expressed concern that the military operation on Libya would turn into a military invasion which he said would only cause more problems.
"We have learnt from past lessons that such military operations had yielded no results but only turned into invasions and caused more casualties, severely damaging unity and integrity of countries," he said.