I don't know what you were doing last night but I did perhaps one of the least desired things in the world and went to Tripoli. Thousands of people erected a city out of canvases and were dreaming of fleeing the country immediately. I thought about how many cities of war I had been to and was surprised to realize that it has been quite some years since the last one. I had started my career in journalism after the Gulf War while I was watching the Kurds' emigration. During the course of that month I smelled the scent of death for the first time in my life, and saw hungry people getting crushed under food aid deliveries. 

 

On a freezing cold Istanbul afternoon in my office I was watching the latest developments in Libya. We were trying to find some guests for our nightly 5N1K news program in the evening. My phone rings. The owner of the Renaissance Company Erman Ilıcak which has many businesses in Libya is on the other end of the line. We talk about recent events and I tell him about my wish to interview the son of Muammar Gaddafi, Saif al-Islam. It is difficult, but not impossible. ‘How can I go to Libya at this very moment?’ I think to myself. I know that many planes are flying to Libya to bring back Turkish workers. I learn that a plane will be taking off in two hours from Antalya. I have no chance of getting on that plane since I am in Istanbul. I am desperate. 

 

Just as I was about to loose complete faith, Erman Ilıcak tells me that I can use his private jet so I can report on the situation from Libya more accurately. There are also three businessman on board who have come from Tripoli just yesterday and agreed to go back once more. In one hour I find myself at the Sabiha Gökçen Airport in Istanbul. I wait for the private jet with Fatih Öztürk, our cameraman, as we await landing permission from Libya. 

 

The lines are busy. The Libyan authorities cannot reach us nor we can contact them. The plane cannot take off before we have landing permission. After a stressful wait, we finally establish a connection with Libya, get the permission, and immediately board on our plane.

 

The journey between Istanbul and Tripoli is 2 hours and 25 minutes. The journey starts well but goes berserk around Malta. There are only a few minutes left until we enter Libyan airspace but the Tripoli Airport has not given us permission to land. There is no place to land in Tripoli Airport because of the canvases built by the workers.

 

Thus begins the immense phone traffic. The Turkish businessman who has lived many years in Libya tries to reach the statesman in Libya. If they cannot find a parking space for our plane we have to go back. They are talking over the phone, talking, talking, talking...

 

When at last we land at Tripoli airport our clocks show 22:25. Two intelligence agency officers welcome us at the door of the plane. I think to myself that the feeling of joy to land on soil where everyone is trying to flee desperately belongs only to journalists. We are directed to VIP once we enter the airport. Needless to say, we are the only journalists who will be interviewing Saif al-Islam. We wait in the lounge that displays all of the kitsch elements of Arabic interior design. We hand our passports to intelligence agency officers while we watch El Arabiye, showing people waving their green flag in different cities of Libya in favor of Gaddafi. There is quite a different scene on Libyan TV apart from the ones we are watching such as Al Jazeera and other western channels. On Libyan TV they show us foreigners who have been caught with bombs and guns. They show us shotguns that they have been confiscated at the Algerian Border. The Libyan State TV shows us a short interview with Gaddafi’s so- called run away daughter Ayse and a speech of Saif al-Islam. After a while we see interviews of protesters who have been caught. It reminds me of my own country's TV when captured PKK would talk on a special show by Erturk Yondem. The protesters tell national cameras what they did, some seem high, some are frightened, some have lost hope. As if this is not enough, they broadcast some of the secret phone recordings that the intelligence agency has listened to.  We are watching awful and shallow state propaganda. In between a newscaster appears and reads a very long text monotonously. We can say that there is a media war in Libya and we are at the frontline of this war. After waiting for more than an hour in this Godforsaken VIP lounge our passports finally get their stamps. 

 

The minute we step outside our amazement begins. 

 

The question "where in the world would you refrain from being?” must find its answer at Tripoli airport. We are not allowed to film inside with our cameras but the scene we can see outside is enough to tell about the seriousness of the situation. We set on our way towards Tripoli. What a start... When the speed indicator shows 210 km in the car the intelligence officers are driving, we fasten our seatbelts immediately. Luckily there is not a soul on the road.

 

First we take a short break with Libya state officers- then we directly head towards Libya State TV Headquarters. We are going to meet Saif al-Islam in this building. It is a run down building from the 80's. Yet Islam, who will enter the building shortly, is a highly regarded name in these days.

 

 

Gaddafi who is now married with his Bosnian origin wife Safiye Farkas has 7 sons and 1 daughter. Gaddafi’s oldest son Mohammad El- Gaddafi is running the Libyan Olympic Committee. Saif al-Islam, his son from his second wife is an architect, born in 1972. In 2006 he criticized his father's regime in an austere manner and left Libya for a short while and according to certain rumors, started to work at a bank. After a while he returned back to Libya and started to build the “new” Libya from scratch. He graduated from Tripoli's El Fetih University with an engineering degree and has a master’s degree from Vienna and the London School of Economics.

 

 

 

 

 

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Saif Al Kaddafi: We Will live here we will die here! There is no other scenario!