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France's defence ministry on Wednesday denounced an "extremely aggressive" intervention by Turkish frigates against a French navy vessel participating in a NATO mission in the Mediterranean. Turkey, however, has denied the claims.
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The French sailors were trying to check a cargo on suspicion it was taking arms to Libya – forbidden under a UN embargo.
Turkish frigates carried out radar targeting three times, suggesting a missile strike was imminent, France's defence ministry said.
"This is an extremely aggressive act that is unacceptable by an ally against a NATO ship," a French defence ministry official, who did not want to be named, told AFP.
"We consider this an extremely grave matter," the official added. "We cannot accept that an ally behaves this way, that it does this against a NATO ship, under NATO command, carrying out a NATO mission."
In a strongly worded statement on Wednesday, French foreign ministry spokeswoman Agnès von der Mühll accused Turkey's navy of acting in a "hostile and aggressive" manner towards its NATO allies to prevent them from enforcing the UN arms embargo on Libya. The violations, she added, were the main obstacles to achieving peace and stability in the North African nation.
The disclosure of the incident, which occurred a few weeks ago, came as NATO defence ministers held talks via video conference on Wednesday.
Turkey denies untrue French claim
Turkey denied the claim that its navy harassed a French warship on a NATO mission, calling it "completely untrue".
A senior Turkish military official told Reuters that the French warship did not establish communications with the Turkish ship during the incident.
"Turkey is fulfilling its obligations as an ally today as always," the official said. "It has saddened us that the matter has reached this stage."
Tensions between NATO members France and Turkey have flared recently over their rival policies on the Libyan civil war.
Turkey supports the UN-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli led by Fayez al-Sarraj. France, despite public denials, has long been suspected of favouring rebel commander Khalifa Haftar and his self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) based in eastern Libya.
Turkish support has been critical to the GNA in staving off a 14-month-long assault on Tripoli by Haftar's forces. That offensive came to an end earlier this month when the GNA managed to seize back all of western Libya.
>> Pro-Haftar powers looking for alternatives after opponents seize all of western Libya
This week, Ankara condemned as "unacceptable" criticism from France over its shipments of weapons and fiRead More – Source
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