ANKARA, July 24 (Xinhua) -- Turkey may close its embassy in Tripoli as the fighting intensifies and instability deepens in the North African country, said Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Thursday.
In his interview with a private TV channel, Davutoglu said "we may take such a decision," adding that efforts to evacuate Turkish citizens in Libya were underway.
"Unfortunately, the clashes in Tripoli have intensified, spreading to Libya's downtown and close to our embassy," he said, adding that Turkey had already suspended work at its consulate in Benghazi due to the poor security conditions.
A statement from the Turkish Foreign Ministry said late Wednesday that Ankara strongly recommended citizens to immediately leave the country and avoid non-essential travels.
It said that because the airports were shelled and currently closed, citizens could use a land route to neighboring Tunisia and take a flight back to Turkey, offering a consular and logistics help for citizens.
Turkey evacuated thousands of its citizens from Libya just before the international community's military operation in 2012, which toppled Moammar Gadhafi's regime.
The clashes has also paralyzed air traffics from and to the capital city of Tripoli. Although another military airfield, Mitiga, was opened for civil flights, there has been no commercial flights operating.
Libya has witnessed escalation of violence and instability after the fall of the regime of former leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, leaving a security vacuum in the country.
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