France intends to denounce this "very serious" behavior during a NATO meeting on Wednesday. A French ship participating in an Atlantic Alliance mission in the Mediterranean was recently the subject of "an extremely aggressive act" on the part of Turkish frigates, according to the Ministry of the Armed Forces.
As the French frigate sought to identify a freighter suspected of transporting weapons to Libya, "the Turkish frigates intervene and illuminate the Courbet three times with their fire control radar", the ministry described just before a videoconference of the ministers Defense of NATO.
Florence Parly's "tune-up" expected
"This case is in our eyes very serious," said Paris. We cannot accept that an ally behaves like this, do this against a NATO ship under NATO command leading a NATO mission. According to the same source, the Minister of the Armies Florence Parly must "put the points on the i" during this meeting on "the Turkish attitude in the Libyan conflict".
"These norias of boats between Turkey and Misrata, sometimes accompanied by Turkish frigates, do not contribute to the de-escalation", underlined the ministry, denouncing in addition the Turkish buildings "use NATO codes" to identify themselves during his escort missions.
Growing disagreements
The tone continues to rise between Paris and Ankara in recent days. On Monday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian condemned “Turkey's growing military support” to the Government of Libyan Union (GNA) in “direct violation of the United Nations embargo”. The day before, the French presidency had already denounced Ankara's “unacceptable” interventionism.
Turkey has rejected these criticisms of its armed support for the Tripoli government in Libya, accusing Paris in turn of "obstructing peace" by supporting the opposing camp.
Support for different camps?
In Libya, Ankara indeed militarily supports the GNA of Fayez al-Sarraj, recognized by the United Nations, against the dissident forces of Marshal Khalifa Haftar, the strong man of the East supported in particular by Russia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. France, although it denies it publicly, is also accused of supporting Haftar, who recently suffered heavy defeats on the ground.
Since April 2019, the conflict in Libya has left hundreds of people dead, including many civilians, and forced more than 200,000 people to flee their homes.
World
Libya: Marshal Haftar announces a month-long truce during Ramadan
World
Coronavirus: Trump and Erdogan call for ceasefire in Syria and Libya
- NATO
- Army
- Marine
- Mediterranean
- Libya
- Turkey
- France
- World