Mubarak to visit Turkey soon; Turkish ambassador returns to Libya

It was announced in Ankara today that Turkey will return its ambassador to Tripoli after the ambassador was withdrawn for consultations at the beginning of the current month when a unit of the prohibited Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) participated in a military show on the anniversary of Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi's assumption of power.

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit, said today that although Ankara is angry over the hostility shown by Gaddafi toward Turkey and his speech supporting the Kurdish dissenters, the Turkish government is feeling assured by the repeated confirmations of the Libyan ambassador, Mansour Bader, in which he said that the Kurdish party participated in the show without the knowledge of Libyan officials.

Meanwhile, the Turkish ambassador in Cairo, Yashar Yakin, said his country has taken all the necessary arrangements to receive Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Ankara at the invitation of his Turkish counterpart, Suleiman Demirel, but the date for the visit has not yet been determined.