Turkey strongly condemned on Tuesday an attempt by supporters of Khalifa Haftar to desecrate the Turkish flag in Tobruk, Libya, describing the incident as a "heinous act."

Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Tanju Bilgiç, said in a statement that Ankara strongly condemned the ugly action against their flag in front of the temporary building of the House of Representatives during the budget negotiations held on Monday in Tobruk, eastern Libya.

"Immediately after learning of the heinous act, our Tripoli Embassy made the necessary written and verbal initiatives before the Libyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and demanded that necessary measures be taken to prevent such provocations and to prevent similar incidents from recurring." Bilgiç indicated, noting that the act clearly intended to target the Turkish-Libyan friendship.

Haftar's supporters placed a Turkish flag on the street for cars to drive on it en route to the headquarters of the House of Representatives in Tobruk, in a sign of their rejection to Turkey's support for the Volcano of Rage Operation that repelled Haftar's offensive on Tripoli between April 2019 and June 2020.