Ageela Saleh, the Speaker of the Libyan Parliament reportedly “did not accept any offers, whether from the Head of the High Council of State (HCS), Khaled Al-Mishri, or from any other party, to form a new government.” This is according to Saleh’s media advisor, Fathi Al-Marimi
In press statements on Thursday, Al-Marimi added that the government headed by Prime Minister-designate, Fathi Bashagha “is the legitimate and legal government in Libya, which came after a consensus reached between the Parliament and the HCS.”
Saleh recently visited Turkey, during which he met President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and the Speaker of the Turkish Parliament.
Notably, he stated that he held a “very productive” meeting with President Erdogan, during his visit to Ankara.
According to Turkey’s news agency, Yeni Shafak, Saleh said he wanted support from Ankara for the preservation of Libya’s territorial integrity. He added that he informed President Erdogan about the situation in Libya.
Saleh’s visit took place at the invitation of the Turkish Grand National Assembly Speaker, Mustafa Sentop.
The Libyan Speaker pointed out that Turkish companies are playing an important role in Libya’s reconstruction process. “We need to cooperate with these companies in order to complete their old contracts, so that they can contribute to the reconstruction of Libya again,” he stressed.
According to the Speaker, he also had a very productive meeting with Sentop in terms of discussing the latest developments in Libya.
He added that there are several Turkish firms in Libya and their contracts are still in effect, but the majority of them were unable to complete their projects. He stressed that his main goal is to bring the Turkey-Libya ties to their prior level.
“We think that the [Libyan] government should also fulfil this task with us [Parliament]. In order for the government to complete their old contracts, they need to sit down and talk with the Turkish companies and cooperate so that they can contribute to the reconstruction of Libya again,” he said.