US Edition As the fighting on the ground in Libya comes to a stalemate, NATO and other leaders meeting in Istanbul are considering proposals that allow for a peaceful resolution to the conflict without the Libyan leader's unconditional surrender or flight.
French ministers have argued in favour of immediate negotiations, even while Col Gaddafi stays in power. They are said to be in favour of allowing him to step down but be found a "safe haven" inside Libya.
Turkey, which is a NATO member but not part of the coalition enforcing a no-fly zone, last night called for a ceasefire to be implemented throughout the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which this year takes place from the beginning of August.
That would be followed by immediate humanitarian aid, and talks to enable Col Gaddafi to step down while remaining in Libya, the Turkish foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu, told journalists in Istanbul. That might require revisions to United Nations resolutions.
"An exit strategy for Gadhafi to leave power, but not necessarily the country, should be sought by revising the U.N. Resolution 1973 if necessary," he said, according to reports of the briefing in leading Turkish newspapers.
Britain and the United States remain sceptical of proposals to negotiate with the Libyan regime. Britain's official position, reiterated this week in light of French demands for talks, is that there can be no negotiations while Col. Gaddafi is in power.
The regime has put out "feelers" to NATO, in which it talks of a democratic transition, but US officials accompanying the secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, to Istanbul were sceptical that these could meet the coalition's "red lines" - stopping all violence and handing over all power.
"There are a lot of straws in the wind," one said. "We are not persuaded yet that any of this is decisive in terms of the red lines that we have laid out."
But NATO has two seemingly insurmountable problems. Although its political leaders are adamant that Col Gaddafi's regime is gradually crumbling from defections, supply shortages and a gradual encirclement of his capital, Tripoli, they also fear that the conflict could drag on long enough to lose political support at home.
There is also the prospect of much greater loss of life as the war reaches heavily defended loyalist strongholds.
On the other hand, even if he were to accept the need to step down, it is unlikely he would do so without guarantees for his own future and that of his family.
Yet NATO would be in defiance of the International Criminal Court, which has indicted both Col Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam, and his brother-in-law and security chief, Abdullah Senussi, if they permitted a solution under which he escaped justice for his alleged crimes. That would include agreeing to him seeking refuge in a country outside the court's jurisdiction.
The new proposals envisage Col Gaddafi retreating to a "peripheral" part of the country - perhaps his tribal home in the southern city of Sabha. Details of whether and how his "retirement" would be supervised have yet to be worked out.
Mr Davutoğlu said that the Turkish "road map" could be compared to the fall of President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, who flew to his holiday home at Sharm el-Sheikh on the Sinai peninsula when he left office.
But that would not be acceptable to Col Gaddafi without international guarantees. Mr Mubarak was also assured by the army that he would not face prosecution, but has since been arrested under the weight of popular pressure.