NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has announced an investigation into accusations by Paris of the Turkish navy of harassing a French warship and denied by Turkey, during an audit process under the United Nations arms embargo imposed on Libya.
"I think the best way, now, to do that is to clarify what actually happened," he stressed, stressing the need to respect the United Nations embargo.
"NATO supports the implementation of the United Nations resolution to impose an arms embargo on Libya. We support the efforts of the United Nations to find a solution to the conflict," Stoltenberg said.
Condemnation and denunciation
France condemned the "extremely aggressive" behavior by Turkey, a member of NATO, against a French frigate carrying out a NATO mission in the Mediterranean during an attempt to check a cargo ship suspected of transporting weapons to Libya.
The French army said that the French frigate was subjected to three "radar flashes" of one of the Turkish boats that provide protection for the cargo ship.
For her part, French Defense Minister Florence Barley condemned the behavior of Turkey twice during two days of meetings held by NATO defense ministers. She indicated that she had the support of eight countries to open the investigation.
An official at the French Defense Ministry said that NATO could not bury his head and ignore the existence of a problem regarding Turkey, especially in Libya and toward the Kurds, considering that the alliance has already gone through complicated situations, and there are ways to overcome it.
He said that there are seven Turkish naval vessels off the Libyan coast, and a French naval vessel had previously attempted to approach cargo ships arriving from Turkey, but that Turkish ships prevented them from approaching.
Negation and commitment
On the other hand, Turkey denied the French accusations of acting "aggressively" towards its NATO partners to prevent them from implementing the arms embargo on Libya.
A high-ranking Turkish military official told Reuters that the claim that the Turkish navy had molested a French "frigate" warship on a NATO mission was "totally false", stressing that the Turkish navy had fueled the French warship "frigate" before the alleged incident.
He clarified that the French warship "Frigate" did not have any contacts with the Turkish ship during the incident, and announced that Turkey today fulfills its obligations as an ally as it has always been, adding that they feel sad that the matter has reached this stage.