ANKARA
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday harshly condemned the attack on a Turkish cargo ship two days ago and said the perpetrators will be revealed.
During a joint press conference with his Gabonese counterpart Ali Bongo Ondimba, President Erdogan said Turkey has been following the issue since the attack happened.
"We are following this issue especially with our foreign ministry, with our rights reserved," Erdogan said. "We will pursue the issue without saying 'whatever happens' and hopefully we will reveal the perpetrators of this attack."
Erdogan also called on Libyan officials to find the perpetrators as well.
"There is not a dual-headed system in Libya, but a multi-headed one. We also need to see that in Libya as well," Erdogan said.
On Monday, the Turkish Foreign Ministry had confirmed that the "Tuna-1" Turkish cargo ship was attacked off the coast of Libya’s port city of Tobruk.
"The Tuna-1 ship flagged with Cook Island was attacked in international waters about 13 miles [21 kilometers] off the coast of Tobruk, when it was carrying a drywall cargo from Spain,” the ministry said in a statement.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu described the attack as “barbaric.”
The ship arrived at Fethiye Port in Turkey’s southwestern Mugla province on Tuesday, after a third captain of the Tuna-1 ship was killed on Sunday as the vessel was targeted by consecutive artillery attacks.
Ilker Buyukdere was killed and other crew members were wounded while the ship was traveling about 20 kilometers off the coast of Tobruk.
Erdogan says migration not excuse for death
During the joint press conference, President Erdogan also talked about the migrant-carrying boats, especially from the African continent to Europe.
"Migration should not be considered as an excuse for death," Erdogan said. "You can see that nobody is in a hurry to rescue those migrants, whose boats sunk and are facing death."
Erdogan also criticized Italy's stance on the issue saying "Italy recently said they have 'no rights' to interfere in this matter."
"As Turkey, we have always thought about helping those migrants with our coast guards," Erdogan added.
Around 900 migrants died on April 19, when their boat sank on the way to Europe from Libya.
Italy reportedly closed down its saving operations last year because other European countries refused to pay for those missions.
Gabon to open embassy in Ankara
Gabon's President Ali Bongo Ondimba said Turkey has shown its interest in Africa through increasing the number of African embassies in recent years.
"Gabon will also open an embassy in Ankara," Ondimba said.
Erdogan mentioned that he hopes for the removal of visa necessities between Gabon and Turkey and said that Turkish Airlines increased flights to Gabon to five times a week.
