China News Service, Paris, July 1 (Reporter Li Yang) The French Ministry of Defense announced on the 1st local time that France had suspended participation in NATO's military operations in the Mediterranean before investigating military friction between French and Turkish warships.
In recent weeks, the relationship between France and Turkey, both members of NATO, has been divided on Libya, Syria and military operations in the eastern Mediterranean.
According to previous reports from French media, the French large destroyer "Colbe" under NATO command tried to inspect a cargo ship suspected of delivering weapons to Libya in the Mediterranean in June, and was repeatedly fired by a Turkish frigate's fire control radar. aim. The French media described Turkey as "a provocative threat", while the "Colbe" took no further action.
The French Ministry of Defence said on the 1st that it had written to NATO outlining a number of French requests: reaffirming its commitment to comply with the embargo, ensuring that countries do not use NATO call signals during the execution of national missions, and strengthening NATO’s internal coordination mechanism to Avoid similar incidents in the future.
The French Defense Ministry official said that while waiting for these requirements to be fulfilled, the French side decided to temporarily withdraw French military power from NATO's relevant military operations. He also said that it is meaningless to participate in military operations with allies that do not abide by the relevant agreements.
Turkey’s ambassador to France, Ismail Musa, earlier told the French senator that France’s investigation of the above-mentioned incident is inconclusive. Moussa denied the French allegations and said the cargo ship involved “has been delivering humanitarian aid”.
French President Macron said at a joint press conference with Tunisian President Said at the end of June that the events of French warships and Turkish warships in the Mediterranean vividly interpreted NATO's "brain death". He also criticized Turkey's relevant actions for not conforming to its status as a member of NATO. Turkish officials denied this. (Finish)