Turkey hails appointment of UN veteran to Libya

ANKARA

Turkey on Tuesday welcomed the recent appointment of a veteran Slovakian diplomat to lead the UN's Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL).

"We welcome the appointment of the former Slovakian Foreign Minister Jan Kubis as the Special Envoy of UN Secretary General to Libya," said a Foreign Ministry statement.

It praised Kubis' "experience and insights" and noted that Turkey will "support Special Envoy Kubis' efforts to reach a political solution in Libya."

"We believe that with his experience and insights Kubis, who recently has served as the UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon and also assumed important and difficult assignments at several regional and international organizations, will make significant contributions to national reconciliation efforts to ensure lasting peace and stability in Libya," it added.

The ministry wished success to Kubis in his new post and thanked Stephanie Turco Williams, who served as Acting Special Representative, for her contributions.

Separately, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu congratulated Kubis during a telephone call, according to diplomatic sources.

After the resignation of former Special Envoy Ghassan Selame, who held the post from June 2017 until March 2020, but had to step down because of "health reasons," a name to carry out Libyan diplomacy in the UN had not determined for about 10 months.

* Additional writing by Jeyhun Aliyev