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reThe Turkish government stopped the inspection of a container ship by a German frigate in the eastern Mediterranean on Sunday. This stems from two reports from the defense policy supervisors of the German Bundestag, which the FAZ has received. First, the “Spiegel” reported about it. The incident was confirmed to the FAZ on Monday by the headquarters of the EU naval mission “Irini”. The cargo ship was suspected of carrying weapons to Libya.
Thomas gutschker
Political correspondent for the European Union, NATO and the Benelux countries based in Brussels.
According to information from the Bundeswehr operations command, the frigate “Hamburg” left shortly after 3:30 pm on Sunday afternoon to board the “Roseline A” in the Mediterranean about 200 kilometers north of the Libyan city. of Benghazi. As usual, the boarding order came from the commander of the mission “Irini”, in whose name the German Navy ship was en route. The ship was suspected of undermining the arms embargo against Libya. He was driving under the Turkish flag.
The Turkish freighter crew initially acted cooperatively, and German soldiers began checking shortly after 7 pm But then apparently Turkey protested. German soldiers then ceased their checks, but remained on board until dawn Monday morning for security reasons. The freighter continued its journey unhindered, towards the Libyan port city of Misrata.
A spokeswoman for the “Irini” headquarters told FAZ that nothing suspicious had been found during the inspection. The spokeswoman would not say whether the inspection was complete; they are waiting for more information from the German frigate. It can be assumed that the soldiers were unable to control the entire shipment in a short time.
With regard to the shipment process, the Rome headquarters announced that the operations management had endeavored in good faith to obtain approval from the flag State for shipment. “After we did not receive a response from the flag state, the team from the German frigate ‘Hamburg’ boarded the freighter in international waters.” This happened 160 miles from Benghazi. The captain and crew behaved “cooperatively”. After Turkey refused to allow the inspection, the inspection was canceled. It was the fifth approach in the context of the mission.
According to the rules of engagement of the naval mission, which is supposed to control the UN arms embargo against Libya, emergency teams can only inspect if the captain of the ship in question authorizes it or does not respond to contact. If the captain expressly refuses the inspection, the teams cannot come aboard or must stop their mission. The spokesman for the EU foreign relations official, Josep Borrell, said on Monday that the Turkish government had been contacted about the incident and that those cases were reported to the United Nations.
Sanctions against the Turkish shipping company
The last time there was a serious incident occurred on June 10, because Turkey prevented the embarkation of a cargo ship flying the Tanzanian flag. The ship was accompanied by two Turkish frigates. They suppressed the controls of a Greek and Italian frigate. When a French frigate, which was on the move as part of the NATO operation “Sea Guardian”, approached the convoy, the Turks pointed their fire control radar at the warship, something unheard of among NATO partners. Then it lit up; France protested against the Alliance and requested an investigation.
At the end of September, the European Union imposed sanctions on the Turkish shipping company “Avrasya Shipping”, on whose behalf the alleged freighter was en route. The reason stated: “The Cirkin is particularly associated with the shipment of military equipment to Libya in May and June 2020.”
Since the summer, Germany has been the flagship of the EU naval mission with the frigate “Hamburg”. In September, the German Navy first examined a Turkish ship bound for Libya and prevented the UN arms embargo from being broken. At that time, the boarding team discovered kerosene in the tanker “Red Diamond 7” as it is commonly used to refuel fighter jets. According to information from FAZ, a team inspected another tanker, the “Anwaar Afriqya” under the Libyan flag, last weekend.
