Turkish President Abdullah Gul said Tuesday that officials from Libya continued to make trips to Turkey in order to facilitate a cease-fire in Libya.

Speaking at a joint press conference with his Indonesian counterpart Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono following a tete-a-tete meeting and a meeting between respective delegations, Gul said that “there was no longer a place for closed regimes in the Mediterranean region. Democracy will be erected in the whole region”.

I am very pleased to be in Indonesia. Turkey and Indonesia have taken their relations to a level of strategic partnership and have begun comprehensive cooperation, Gul said.

The peoples of the two countries look at each other with love and our relations go back to the 16th century. Our close relations will get reflected in economic cooperation, Gul said.

Turkey and Indonesia are two most developed countries of the Islamic world. Their common characteristics include having a large population and being ruled in democracy. There are opportunities for the two countries to cooperate more. We discussed with President Yudhoyono the ways to boost cooperation in defense industry, tourism, agriculture and education, Gul said.

Indonesian President Yudhoyono, in his part, said that President Gul was the first Turkish President visiting Indonesia after 16 years and that this visit was historic.

Our economic and commercial relations with Turkey are developing. The two countries move towards developing strategic partnership, Yudhoyono said.

Turkey and Indonesia are democracies both of whose majority consist of Muslims. Comprehensive cooperation between our two countries can contribute to the development of the Alliance of Civilizations project and relations between the Islamic world and the West, Yudhoyono said.

During our talks on Tuesday, we discussed the recent developments in the Middle East, Northern Africa and Libya, Yudhoyono said.

Touching on his country’s relations with Libya, President Yudhoyono said that if a cease-fire was reached in Libya and an international effort was made to preserve peace, then Indonesia might participate in such an international step.

Meanwhile, prior to the press conference, Turkey and Indonesia signed agreements on visa exemption for diplomatic and service passports and on management of natural disasters.

The foreign ministries of the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding to facilitate cooperation between themselves.

Turkish and Indonesian presidents have called for “an immediate and effective ceasefire” in Libya as well as the UN supervision of its implementation.

“There is an urgent need for an immediate and effective ceasefire in Libya to end the suffering of the innocent civilians and the supervision of the ceasefire by a UN team to be deployed in the country,” Turkish President Abdullah Gul and his Indonesian counterpart Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said in a joint declaration on Tuesday.

Turkish President was in Indonesia for a formal visit. The two leaders earlier met and appeared in a joint press conference.

The declaration said the two presidents were “deeply concerned” over fighting between rival Libyan groups, citing them as underlining the importance of maintaining the national unity and the territorial integrity of the country.

The declaration said the two presidents urged the United Nations to work close cooperation with regional organizations to secure “a viable, peaceful and a democratic political environment that would reflect the will of the Libyan people.”

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