France has suspended participation in the NATO mission to Libya because of Turkey

Paris – France has suspended its participation in a NATO naval mission off the coast of Libya following a previous clash with Turkish vessels. The AP agency informed about it today, adding that the French decision comes at a time of growing tensions over Libya within the North Atlantic Alliance.

The French Ministry of Defense said today that Paris sent a letter to the alliance on Tuesday informing it of a “temporary” suspension of participation in the Sea Guardian mission. The information was provided by France after investigators reported on the June 10 incident.

According to ministry officials, France wants to once again officially support the arms embargo against Libya, after other NATO allies. Paris has repeatedly accused Turkey of violating the UN arms embargo on a war-torn country and of thwarting chances of a ceasefire in the North African state. But Turkey refuses.

At the same time, France is working to set up a crisis mechanism to prevent a recurrence of the incident between Turkish battleships and a French naval vessel in the Mediterranean in early June.

France claims that its frigate Courbet has been “lit” three times by Turkish naval radar. This was to happen after a French ship serving as part of a NATO mission approached a vessel flying the Tanzanian flag, which it suspected of smuggling weapons. According to Paris, the suspected ship was accompanied by three Turkish battleships. After the confrontation, the French vessel withdrew.

France claims that, according to NATO rules, this was hostile behavior from Turkey. However, Ankara denies bothering Courbet. The Turkish ambassador to France, İsmail Hakkı Musa, defended Turkey’s actions in Libya before the French Senate, saying that their purpose was to restore stability. The diplomat said that NATO had completed the investigation and that its conclusions were ambiguous. NATO confirmed that it had reported the investigation, but said the findings were confidential, the AP said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel called the incident “very serious”. “We should do everything we can to ensure that such incidents among NATO allies do not happen again,” she told a news conference in the German parliament today. Merkel met with French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday, and the Turkish foreign minister is expected to visit her in Berlin on Thursday.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian announced today that the heads of diplomacy of EU member states will meet on July 13 to discuss Turkey. He said ministers could discuss imposing sanctions on Turkey.

There has been chaos in Libya since 2011, when the then dictator Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown with the help of the West. In addition to many armed groups, two cabinets are seeking government there. The one in the east, who has the support of Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar’s East Libyan Army (LNA), does not recognize the UN-backed government of Prime Minister Faiz Sarraj in Tripoli. Both cabinets have their own parliament.

Turkey, which is on the side of a UN-recognized government in the Libyan conflict, has gained a stronger position in Libya by helping to repel Haftar’s LNA campaign on Tripoli. Haftara, on the other hand, is supported by the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Russia. Paris is accused of politically supporting a field marshal to whom it has provided military assistance in the past to fight Islamist militias. However, France refuses to support Haftar, Reuters said.

NATO France Libya army ship

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