The Libyan High Council of State (HCS) has denounced the statements of Ahmed Al-Mismari, the spokesman for Khalifa Haftar's forces, in which he threatened to target Turkish interests and nationals in Libya.

The HCS said in a statement on Saturday that those threats were an attempt by Haftar's forces to cover up their loss of Gharyan city and to find a way to allow more interventions by the countries supporting Haftar in his wars in Tripoli and elsewhere in Libya.

The HCS expressed grave concerns about the repercussions of such hateful statements as they would impact the Libyan people in eastern region since they use Istanbul as the main destination for either trade, business, or as a transit country to travel to other countries.

"This kind of behaviour could be considered a declaration of war on Turkey that could harm our relations with it as Turkey is cooperating with Libya in many fields and its exports to our country are very major to the market." The HCS added.

It said the political bodies of the UN-brokered Skhirat agreement will continue to have normal relations with Turkey as per all the bilateral agreements.

The HCS indicated that it had been in contact with the Presidential Council to request the UN to take deterring measures against "these criminal militias" as they continue to violate laws and conventions.