The Turkish Prime Minister, Tayyip Erdogan gave a speech to an adoring crowd in Tripoli The Turkish Prime Minister, Tayyip Erdogan, last night gave a speech to an adoring crowd in Tripoli. “You’ve proven to the world that no regime can withstand the will of its people,” he said. He called on all Libyans to “unite for the sake of building their country and progress.”
Erdogan received an enthusiastic welcome from Libyans as well as Turkish expats, who came to Tripoli’s Martyr’s Square in central Tripoli to hear his speech.
Erdogan’s speech followed a visit to a mosque for Friday prayers.
The square was decorated with Turkish and Libyan flags, and banners hung from the surrounding buildings displaying words such as \"Mr. Erdogan is beside us, hand-in-hand\" and \"Thank you Turkey, thank you Erdogan.”
Turkish security forces and the Libya’s rebels ensured that security was tight around the square, closing nearby roads t traffic.
Erdogan also launched a thinly-veiled criticism of the Syrian President, Bashar Assad: “The time of dictators is over.”
“Such leaders need to understand that their time is over, because the era of dictatorship is over,” Erdogan said, without naming Assad.
The crowd chanted slogans in support of the Syrian uprising.
Meanwhile, on the ground, Naji Barkan, a rebel military commander said: “the rebels entered Bani Walid from multiple sides after clashing with Gaddafi’s forces.”
“The rebels entered the city from three sides, under sniper fire from Gaddafi forces stationed on rooftops across the city”, Barkan told Arabstoday
“The rebels captured 16 Gaddafi loyalists.”
Sources have also reported an electricity outage in Sirte, along with further violent clashes between the rebels and Gaddafi’s forces.
NATO also undertook a number of operations in Libya yesterday, targeting five command and control centres, three radar systems, four armed vehicles and eight missile systems in Sirte alone.
The White House has announced that the US President, Barak Obama, will meet the President of the Transitional National Assembly, Mustafa Abdul Jalil, next Tuesday.