Libyan government to exclude Turkish firms from contracts

Baku.23 February.REPORT.AZ/ Libya's internationally recognized government has said it will end all contracts with companies from Turkey, a country it has accused of supporting a rival administration.

The government of Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni did not spell out its reasons for the decision, posted on a cabinet website late on Sunday.

A Turkish official said the government was evaluating the situation in the north African oil producer, where Turkish businesses have traditionally had a strong presence.

Thinni and the allied elected parliament have been confined to a rump state in the east since an armed group called Libya Dawn seized the capital Tripoli and reinstated a previous assembly.

Major world powers have boycotted the Tripoli government which critics say is backed by Islamists groups. But the United Nations has included lawmakers from the rival parliament in a dialogue aimed at defusing a violent power struggle between the two Libyan administrations.

Turkey is one of a handful of countries which has publicly received officials from the Tripoli government and parliament.