“Once again, Turkey prevented inspections of two commercial ships suspected of transporting weapons to Libya in last February,” the European Union said on Thursday.
The European Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed the report of the German News Agency, which revealed earlier that “Ankara objected to the search of two ships flying the Turkish flag in the Mediterranean.”
According to the German report, Turkey has blocked EU monitoring of the UN arms embargo on Libya, and the Turkish Foreign Ministry has objected to the inspection of two commercial ships suspected of using illegal transfers to Libya.
Besides, the German News Agency report mentioned an earlier incident in November, when Turkey prevented a German Marines search of a Turkish container ship, and later accused the German government and EU of unlawful behavior.
It is noteworthy that the EU’s Erini monitoring mission was established in May 2020 and aims to achieve stability Libya and support the political peace process led by the UN.
Turkey supports GNA, Fayez al-Sarraj, which is competing for power against Khalifa Haftar the military leader, and the armed groups that support him.
The European Union has repeatedly referred to Turkey’s involvement in the transfer of weapons to Libya, and had previously imposed sanctions on a Turkish company accused of participating in the transfer of war materials to Libya.
