Turkey says it will take over Benghazi airport

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey had agreed to three tasks within the scope of the NATO mission in the strife-torn North African country.

"One is to run the Benghazi airport for the coordination of humanitarian assistance. We will also take part in monitoring the airspace and deploy Turkish naval forces on the corridor between Crete and Benghazi," Erdogan said at a news conference in Ankara before leaving on an official trip to Iraq.

After previously having expressed strong opposition to taking part in any intervention in Libya, Turkey said Thursday that it supported NATO taking over the UN-backed operation and would be contributing four frigates, a submarine and an auxiliary ship.