Turkish Prime Minister condemns UNSC sanctions on Libya

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged the United Nations not to impose sanctions on Libya, warning that the Libyan people would suffer most, not Moammar Gadhafi's regime.

Erdogan also suggested the international community might be acting more out of concern about Libya's oil reserves than about the welfare of the country's people.

Erdogan spoke hours before U.N. Security Council members were to meet again to discuss ways to punish the Libyan leader for violent attacks against anti-government protesters. Up for consideration are an arms embargo against the Libyan government and a travel ban and asset freeze against Gadhafi, his relatives and key regime members.

"The people are already struggling to find food, how will you feed the Libyan people?" Erdogan asked. "Sanctions, an intervention, would force the Libyan people, who are already up against hunger and violence, into a more desperate situation."

"We call on the international community to act with conscience, justice, laws and universal humane values -- not out of oil concerns," Associated Press quoted him as saying.