Turks fleeing Libya take refuge in soccer stadium-UPDATE 2

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Tuesday February 22, 2011 07:52:16 PM GMT

* About 25,000 Turks in Libya, evacuation plans under way

* Up to 3,500 take refuge in Benghazi soccer stadium

* Turkish foreign minister seeks dialogue between sides

* Turkey has projects in Libya worth more than $15 bln

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By Pinar Aydinli

ANKARA, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Thousands of Turkish workers awaiting evacuation from Libya took refuge in a soccer stadium in the eastern city of Benghazi overnight from where they could hear gunfire through the night, a witness said on Monday.

Violent unrest against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has spread to the capital, Tripoli, where dozens of people were reported killed overnight. His son has vowed to fight until the "last man standing" after scores of protesters were killed in the east of the country.

Sertac Karan, an executive with Turkish firm Arsel Construction, told Reuters by telephone from the stadium near Benghazi airport: "After funeral prayers we can hear firefights and explosions.

"It's totally out of control, we see 15- and 16-year-olds carrying Kalashnikovs."

About 3,500 Turks were waiting for evacuation at the stadium, said Karan, who arrived three days earlier after the company's sites were ransacked.

Members of the security forces changed out of uniform and joined protests to avoid being attacked by protesters, he said.

Turkey's foreign trade minister said looters had attacked Turkish companies, which have projects in Libya worth more than $15 billion, and officials estimated there were 25,000 Turks working there.

"At the raided building sites, there have only been attacks on property. Nothing has been done to Turkish citizens," State Minister Zafer Caglayan told a meeting called to discuss the crisis.

Nearly 600 Turks were evacuated at the weekend from Benghazi where many Turkish firms are active. Anatolian news agency reported another 250 Turks were being taken by bus from eastern Libya to the Egyptian city of Alexandria.

DIALOGUE IS PRIORITY

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who has made forging closer diplomatic and economic ties with the Middle East and the Arab world a priority, said four planes and two ships were being sent to Libya to evacuate stranded citizens.

"Our first priority in Libya is to halt the clashes of brothers, to secure safety and dialogue between the sides, and the safety of our citizens," he said on a visit to Tunis.

Turkey, trying to protect its regional interests, gave strong support to the popular uprising in Egypt and Davutoglu said the changes in Tunisia could turn out to be a possible model for other countries in the region.

President Abdullah Gul rejected dismissed the suggestion that Turks had helped stoke the unrest, and said leaders of countries in the region should heed their people's calls.

"These matters should be handled without spilling a brother's blood and of course all leaders should take into account the will and wishes of their people," he said.

The Istanbul ferry firm IDO was sending two ferries, to be escorted by a naval frigate, to bring Turks home from Libya. They have capacity of about 1,200 passengers.

Caglayan said Turkey was in talks with Libya on arranging safe landing for Turkish planes. One plane was unable to land in Benghazi and there were unconfirmed reports that opposition protesters had taken control of the airport.

He said Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan spoke by telephone to Gaddafi, who last November presented Erdogan with the Gaddafi Prize for Human Rights.

Turkish companies, mostly construction firms, had about projects worth about $15.3 billion in Libya, Caglayan said. About 200 Turkish construction firms are active there, including Tekfen Holding and TAV Construction.

Trade volume between the two countries amounted to about $2.4 billion last year. Libya was part of the Ottoman Empire from the 16th century until it was conquered by Italy in 1912.

Hidir Yentur, a logistics manager with a construction company in Al Bayda, eastern Libya, said workers were forced to move to a safer place after their site was stormed by looters.

"A group attacked our construction site and took computers, but they didn't do anything to us. Our water is running low," Yentur told Reuters by telephone from Libya.

Tekfen, running a $550 million project, suspended its operations in Libya and planned to evacuate all its 400 Turkish workers, said vice-chairman Umit Ozdemir. (Additional reporting by Seda Sezer, Ceyda Caglayan, Umit Bektas and Tulay Karadeniz; writing by Daren Butler; editing by Simon Cameron-Moore and Andrew Dobbie)

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