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Today, Monday, the Turkish Foreign Ministry summoned the ambassadors of Italy and the European Union, and the Chargé d’affaires of Germany, to deliver a protest note against the registration of a Turkish freighter as part of the Ireni operation to monitor the arms embargo on the Libyan parties.
The inspection that took place yesterday by a German frigate, commanded by a Greek military commander, caused the return of tension between Turkey and the European Union, prompting great reactions from Ankara, in protest of the method of the inspection process, which he deemed illegal.
According to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey, “the ambassadors of the European Union and Italy, and the German Chargé d’Affaires, were summoned for their presence outside Ankara at the headquarters of the ministry and their meeting with the Turkish Deputy Minister Sadat Onal “.
He added that “a protest against the inspection of a Turkish freighter named (Roslyn A) was carried out, without obtaining an open permit from Ankara, to board and inspect it and present a memorandum in this framework to the countries involved.”
The Turkish Foreign Ministry stressed that “the memorandum indicated that this behavior violates international law, and Ankara reserves the right to request financial compensation from these countries, which was registered through the memorandum presented today.”
The Turkish media reported that the search of the Turkish ship was carried out last night by force, without obtaining permission, and the captain gathered to threaten the weapon and the ship’s workers in a room, to inspect the cargo it contained paintings, paint supplies and food aid, as the ship was thoroughly searched without finding anything, that the attacking forces put an end to the search operation after the intervention of Ankara hours later.
This process caused the return of tension in relations between Turkey and the countries of the European Union, and raised again the level of tension in the Eastern Mediterranean region, ahead of a next meeting next month of the countries of the Union. That will review the relationship between Brussels and Ankara.
Earlier in the day, a spokesman for the Turkish Foreign Ministry, Hami Aksoy, said that “Irene’s European operation to monitor the arms embargo on Libya is biased and aims to punish the legitimate government of Libya, and that the German frigate Hamburg carefully searched and questioned the crew of the Turkish ship carrying paint and aid equipment. ” Humanity to the Libyan city of Misurata “.
Aksoy added: “Irene does not monitor the support of the coup, Khalifa Haftar, with weapons. The Turkish captain expressed his cooperation and provided detailed information about the ship’s cargo and its journey, but the armed elements of Operation Irene conducted a search which lasted many hours, and all the crew were gathered in one place, and an armed person was next to the captain, the ship’s containers were inspected, and the aforementioned intervention was not carried out with the consent of Turkey despite of the captain’s statements on the nature of the shipment, and continued until after midnight, ending only with Turkey’s objections.
On March 31, the European Union announced the launch of Operation Irene, which means “peace” in Greek. The Security Council decided in March 2011 to impose an embargo on the supply of arms to Libya and asked all member states to inspect the ships that were bound for it, and confiscate everything that is prohibited from supplying and destroying.
The scope of Operation Irene is in the Mediterranean, and the resolution includes an embargo on arms, ammunition, vehicles, military equipment, paramilitary equipment and spare parts, and has been extended more than once.
Turkish Vice President Fuad Oktay strongly condemned the illegal search for the Turkish ship, as part of the controversial Operation Irene, which “does not oversee operations in support of Khalifa Haftar’s coup with weapons, but rather aims to punish the government. legitimate Libyan “, and other angry Turkish reactions also came from other officials without clarification from the European side.
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