Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Önal will attend the Paris conference on Libya to be held on Friday, the Foreign Ministry confirmed Thursday.

The ministry’s announcement comes after Turkey had initially announced that it would not attend the conference that Greece, Israel and the Greek Cypriot administration will participate in.

The Paris conference aims to give a final international push so that elections are held by the year-end and to endorse the departure of foreign forces.

The summit, organized by the U.N., Germany and Italy, in Paris will gather regional and international heads of state.

Libya's first-ever direct presidential poll is the culmination of the peace process initiated last year by the United Nations to draw a line against years of violence since the revolt that toppled dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.

Despite a year of relative peace following a cease-fire between the eastern and western camps, the wrangling over the legal basis for the elections threatens to derail the peace process. This has sparked fears of a return to violence in the event of a contested result.

More than 2.8 million of Libya's 7 million residents have registered to vote.

Potential candidates include putschist Gen. Khalifa Haftar, the commander of eastern-based forces in the civil war, and Gadhafi's son Saif al-Islam Gadhafi; both considered deeply divisive figures.

Former Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha has confirmed that he will contest, alongside diplomats Aref al-Nayed and Ibrahim Dabbachi and comedian Hatem al-Kour.

As the bickering over the election timetable dragged on, low-level fighting between rival militias violated the cease-fire.

But the foreign powers have been pushing hard for both elections to coincide, as agreed at U.N.-led talks last year.

Global powers have been pushing for elections as a key part of a road map out of years of violence between an array of Libyan and foreign armed groups.