Turkey has recently taken serious measures against Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi in step with the United Nations Security Council decisions, Radikal said.

Turkey has already frozen Gadhafi’s and his family’s assets in Turkey and imposed ban on entering Turkey for his entourage and commanders depending on a regulation approved by President Abdullah Gül.

As a next step, the country may seize A&T Bank, in which the Libyan Foreign Bank controlled by the Gadhafi family is the biggest shareholder. The assets of Libyan Foreign Bank in Turkey have also been frozen.

“Necessary measures can be immediately taken to freeze all the funds and financial assets and resources in Turkey owned or controlled by real persons and corporate bodies listed,” the regulation said. The SDIF’s possible seizure of A&T Bank and appointment of new people to the board are alleged in parallel with this decision. If this happens, it will be a first in the Turkish banking sector as the seizure will be due to international law and politics problems, not because of a financial problem.

Turkey has frozen assets of a total of 13 people including Gadhafi and eight family members. Assets of a total of five Libyan corporate bodies in Turkey are also frozen. The Central Bank of Libya, Libyan Investment Authority, Libyan Foreign Bank and National Oil Company of Libya, which are controlled by the family, are some of these institutions.

Gadhafi and nine others are banned from entering Turkey.

Nearly 30 percent of A&T Bank is owned by Turkey’s biggest publicly traded lender İşbank and state-owned lender Ziraat Bank. A&T Bank defines itself as the first Turkish bank that specialized in trade transactions between Turkey and the Middle East and North Africa.

A&T Bank was selected in the 2010 bank report of financial magazine Forbes as the fastest-growing bank over the last three years among the small lenders. It has also been the top bank that achieved to post eightfold increase in profits. The bank has six branches in Turkey.

With this recent regulation, Turkish contractors conducting businesses in Libya will also overcome the guarantee letter dispute. Turkish businesspeople have a total of 359 ongoing projects in Libya and $1.5 billion debt receivables.