Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nikolay Mladenov and his Croatian counterpart Gordan Jandrokovic, have issued a joint statement officially recognizing the Transitional National Council (TNC) as the legitimate authority of Libya.

At the end of June, the two Balkan countries recognized TNC as a legitimate representative of the Libyan people, statement reminds.

""More than five months ago the Libyan people began a revolution demanding freedom, democracy and the end of the dictatorship. Today, that struggle is almost over. Muammar Gaddafi no longer has the capacity to oppress or threaten the people in Libya," the two Ministers say.

"Whether he understands it or not, Gaddafi's era is over for good. The crimes of his regime should be investigated and all responsible must be prosecuted. He and his henchmen will be held to account before the International Criminal Court," they declare.

Mladenov and Jandrokovic call for the immediate stop of all fighting in the North African state:

"The time to end the fighting has come and all his loyalists must lay down their weapons immediately. It is time to begin the process of building a democratic Libya, based on the rule of law...This great historic moment for the Libyan people should not be tainted by vengeance and violence but should be used for reconciliation, building national unity and peaceful transition."

"We look forward to re-establishing our diplomatic presence in Tripoli in the immediate future and working with the rest of the international community in assisting the Libyan people in their transition to democracy," is how the statement ends.

At the end of June Bulgaria's centrist-right GERB cabinet recognized the TNC as a legitimate representative of the Libyan people, thus reversing its position as of March 2011 when it refused to recognize it stating that some of its members were involved in the torture and imprisonment of the 6 Bulgarian medics in the so called Libya HIV trial (1999-2007).