By Daren Butler
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan warned Muammar Gadaffi's government on Tuesday against taking "cruel steps" to crush an uprising, while requesting all sides ensure the safety of foreigners caught up in the revolt.
Some 2,600 Turkish workers, stranded in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, assembled at the port to await ships sent to rescue them from violence engulfing the North African country.
"I would like to remind both officials and government opponents in Libya to be extremely careful to ensure the security of foreigners in their country," Erdogan told members of his ruling AK Party in the Turkish parliament.
Officials say there are a total 25,000 Turks in Libya, many of them working for construction firms.
Gaddafi has vowed defiance in the face of mounting revolt, making a fleeting television appearance to scorn protesters and deny he had fled the country.
Erdogan said he spoke with the Libyan leader twice. Speaking to his own party members, Erdogan advised the Libyan government to avoid fuelling the bloodshed.
"Taking cruel steps against people voicing their democratic demands will only exacerbate the spiral of violence and threaten the country's unity," Erdogan said.
Turning more broadly to upheaval seen across North Africa and Middle East in recent weeks, Erdogan gave a stark warning.
"No government that turns to violence against their people, takes no notice of their demands and remains insensitive to their expectations and sees its people as a threat can stay long in power," said Erdogan, regarded as one of the most popular leaders in the Muslim world.
BREAD AND BLANKETS
Turkish workers in Benghazi, thousands of whom took refuge in a soccer stadium overnight, were taken by bus to a nearby port where the first two of five ships being sent from Turkey were expected to arrive on Tuesday evening.
During their stay at the stadium they reported hearing shooting and explosions, along with the sound of funeral prayers, while outside on the streets youths were seen brandishing Kalashnikov rifles.
People gave them blankets and bread and they were not treated badly, but nevertheless some of the Turks fell ill, said Burcu Begde, employee of a construction firm building a university in Benghazi, who had just returned to Turkey but was in touch with co-workers left behind.
Officials said some evacuees would be ferried to the Mediterranean island of Malta and others might be taken to Alexandria in Egypt, from where they would be flown home.
"We hope these (first two) ships will arrive this afternoon and will evacuate 3,000 people in the first stage," Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told a news conference in Ankara. He said there were nearly 5,000 Turks in the Benghazi area.
Turkey's navy has sent a transport ship, with room for 1,500 passengers, escorted by two frigates and a refuelling ship, and stocked with food for 6,000 people, Erdogan's office said.
Some Turks managed to catch a flight home from Benghazi on Sunday night, before violence spread to the airport, and there were reports that the runways have been destroyed.
Another ship was being sent to Libya on Tuesday afternoon and a fifth vessel was being prepared for departure on Wednesday. Each of these ships can carry 800 passengers. A convoy of buses also took more people out by road to Egypt.
Three flights were scheduled to arrive in Istanbul from the Libyan capital Tripoli on Tuesday. Around 1,000 Turks have so far been evacuated by plane.
Turkey has made forging closer diplomatic and economic ties with the Middle East and the Arab world a priority, banking on prosperity eventually bringing stability to the volatile region.
Turkish companies, mostly construction firms, have projects worth more than $15 billion (9 billion pounds) in Libya and trade volume between them was about $2.4 billion last year.
(Additional reporting by Seda Sezer and Tulay Karadeniz; Editing by Louise Ireland)
