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On Tuesday, Ankara strongly condemned the airborne landing operation carried out by German Navy units “in the manner of pirates” aboard a Turkish-flagged freighter off the coast of Libya. Confirming that she would “respond” to this action.
The Turkish Defense Ministry said in a statement that “approaching the ship in the pirate way and treating the crew members as if they were guilty is completely inconsistent with international law and current regulations.”
And Sunday night. The German frigate “Hamburg” stopped the freighter “MV Roslin A”, which was flying the Turkish flag. This is part of the European naval operation “Irene” aimed at enforcing respect for the UN ban on arms transfers to Libya.
According to Ankara, the German soldiers who landed on board the ship in the process of disembarking a helicopter did so against their captain and the Turkish authorities, who informed them of their refusal to take this landing operation.
In its statement, the Turkish Defense Ministry said German soldiers stayed aboard Safia overnight and searched it without finding any prohibited items on board, and did not leave until Monday morning after Ankara protested against it. that they had done.
According to the Turkish authorities, the ship was heading to the Libyan port of Misurata to transport humanitarian food aid and construction materials.
For his part, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Davutoglu said Tuesday that his country would respond “on the ground” to what happened.
In response to a question about whether the Turkish response would be to send warships to escort Turkish ships heading to Libya, Davutoglu told reporters: “We will do whatever it takes.”
The Irini mission said in a statement that German soldiers boarded the Turkish ship after they blocked its path, 160 nautical miles north of Tripoli. However, they had to “suspend their activities” because they did not obtain permission from Ankara to carry out the inspection.
The mission added that “the ship’s captain and his crew were cooperating with the team.”
On Tuesday, the European Commission defended the inspection. Confirming that the measure was implemented in compliance with the directives of the European operation Irene within the framework of the arms embargo imposed on Libya.
A spokesman for the Commission said in a statement that the German team acted “under internationally agreed measures, especially by NATO,” in accordance with the mandate given to Operation Irene, which is backed by UN Security Council resolutions.
It added that Operation Irene had informed Turkey in advance of its intention to board the freighter. He gave him five hours to respond before German forces carried out the search.
The statement indicated that “the inspection process was subsequently suspended.” After Turkey officially notified Operation Irene of its refusal to give permission to search the ship. However, the inspection process that had been initiated did not find any illegal material on board the ship. The ship was allowed to continue its course.
Turkey considers this maritime mission biased and accuses the Europeans of seeking through this mechanism to prevent shipments of arms destined for the Tripoli government and sent by sea, while diverting its attention from those sent to Khalifa Haftar by its allies by air and land. .
Source: French press agency
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