Spokesman for the Turkish Foreign Ministry, Tango Bilgic, expressed his country’s rejection to inspect a Turkish ship by a German frigate belonging to IRINI operation off the Libyan coast.
“Turkey rejects the illegal boarding by soldiers of a German frigate belonging to IRINI to a merchant ship flying the Turkish flag without the consent of the Turkish flag state,” Bilgic said.
The Spokesman announced his country’s doubts about the legitimacy, purpose and impartiality of the European Union’s naval mission off the Libyan coast.
The European Union’s Operation IRINI announced last Monday on Twitter that Ankara had refused the request to inspect the ship, and this was denied by the Turkish authorities.
Operation IRINI called on the Security Council to request all UN members to cooperate with the inspections.