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Source, Reuters
The Portuguese Minister of Europe, Ana Lucía Zacarías, and the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arancha González Laya, speak at today’s summit
It was reported that the European Union (EU) foreign ministers decided to impose sanctions on a Turkish, Jordanian and Kazakh company and two Libyan citizens for violating the arms embargo on Libya. Eastern Turkey is the EU’s natural gas exploration activities in the Mediterranean due to the application of sanctions wishing Republic of Cyprus because Belarus did not veto the sanctions resolution.
EU Foreign Ministers met today in Brussels, ahead of the EU leaders’ summit on 24-25 September.
At the meeting it was reported that the EU foreign ministers decided to impose sanctions on a Turkish, Jordanian and Kazakh company and two Libyan citizens for violating the arms embargo on Libya. The companies in question belong to the maritime and aviation industries.
The EU announced that Samsun-based shipping company Avrasya “violated the arms embargo with its ship named ‘Ugly'”.
“Especially the Ugly ship was associated with the transport of military supplies to Libya in May and June 2020,” the EU said in an official statement.
Avrasya Shipping Company has not yet made a statement.
Source, Avrasya Shipping
The other two companies sanctioned are reportedly Sigma Airlines, based in Kazakhstan, and the shipping company Med Wave Shipping, based in Jordan.
The French news agency AFP claims that the sanction decision will freeze the assets of companies in the EU, block their access to EU financial markets and they will not be allowed to trade with companies within the EU.
The United Nations had decided to impose an arms embargo on Libya, which has been in conflict since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
The European Union is also monitoring this embargo with its navy in the Mediterranean.
According to AFP, the EU is also gathering intelligence on those who break the embargo, and the sanction that was decided today was the first EU sanction decision on Libya.
This decision According to the Agency, due to the events in the Eastern Mediterranean already carries a higher risk of nervous tension than the EU-Turkey relations.
No sanction decision was issued against Belarus
On the other hand, Belarus, whose results of the presidential elections were discussed at the meeting of EU foreign ministers, did not issue sanctions due to the veto of the Republic of Cyprus.
The EU was preparing to sanction 40 Belarusian officials for irregularities in the presidential elections on August 9 and protests after the elections for excessive use of force.
The EU’s natural gas deposits in the eastern Mediterranean if the decision to sanction the Republic of Cyprus to Turkey due to exploration work would have blocked the planned sanctions to be applied to Belarus.
The EU needs the approval of all member states to implement sanctions.
Following the meeting, Josep Borrell, EU High Representative for Foreign Policy and Security, described the lack of consensus as a “high-tension political problem” and said the issue will be discussed again at the EU leaders’ summit of the September 24 to 25.
The decision to sanction the Belarusian authorities has been on the agenda for a month.
It was announced that President Alexander Lukashenko, who had ruled the country for 26 years in Belarus, won 80 percent of the vote, and the opposition argued that the elections were rigged and demanded that power be transferred to them.
Thousands of people were detained in the protests that lasted for weeks, and only one person, who was not in prison or abroad, remained from the Coordination Council established to transfer power to the opposition.
