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Scenes of the German frigate raiding the Turkish ship (Anatolia)
Yesterday, Tuesday, Ankara strongly condemned the air landing carried out by German Navy units “in the manner of pirates” aboard a Turkish-flagged freighter off the coast of Libya, stressing that it would “respond” to this action.
The Turkish Defense Ministry said, in a statement, that “getting on the ship in the pirate way and treating the crew members as if they were guilty is completely incompatible with international law and current regulations.”
Statement on the search for a Turkish flag commercial vessel called ROSELINE-A with an illegal intervention. Https://t.co/hAGpqyuLC2 pic.twitter.com/JezqHojIrA
– Turkish Ministry of National Defense (@tcsav Savunma) November 24, 2020
On Sunday night, the German frigate “Hamburg” stopped the freighter “MV Roslyn A”, flying the Turkish flag, as 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 the ship in the process of disembarking from a helicopter did so despite their captain and the Turkish authorities, who informed them that they were refusing this landing.
In its statement, the Turkish Defense Ministry said that German soldiers stayed on board the ship overnight and inspected it without finding any prohibition on board and did not leave until Monday morning after Ankara protested against what 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 Cavusoglu said Tuesday that his country will respond “on the ground” to what happened.
Responding to a question on whether the Turkish response would be to send warships to accompany Turkish ships heading to Libya, Cavusoglu told reporters: “We will do whatever is necessary.”
The “IRENI” mission said, in a statement, that German soldiers boarded the Turkish ship after blocking its passage 160 nautical miles north of Tripoli, but 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 process, noting that the measure was carried out in compliance with the guidelines of the European operation Irene in the framework of the arms embargo imposed on Libya.
A spokesman for the commission said in a statement that the German team acted “in accordance with internationally agreed measures, especially by NATO,” in accordance with the mandate given to Operation Irene, backed by UN Security Council resolutions. .
He added: “Operation Irene informed Turkey in advance of its intention to board the freighter and gave it five hours to respond before the German forces carried out the inspection.”
“The inspection process was subsequently suspended, after Turkey officially and late informed Operation Irene of its refusal to give permission to inspect the ship. However, the inspection process that had begun did not find any illegal material on board the ship. ship and the ship was allowed to continue on its course, “the statement said.
Turkey considers that this naval mission is biased and accuses the Europeans of seeking in this mechanism to prevent shipments of arms destined for the Tripoli government and sent by sea, while diverting its attention from those sent to the retired Libyan Major General Khalifa Haftar by his allies by air and land.
(Brush from France)
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