Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar has told reporters at the Turkish parliament in the capital Ankara that European Union’s Operation IRINI was stillborn.
The Turkish Defense Minister said the EU operation “has lacked a solid basis in terms of international law since the beginning”.
“Operation IRINI’s implementation has been problematic since the beginning,” Akar said, adding that the EU should have asked Libya’s UN-recognized Government of National Accord for permission before launching the operation this March.
Commenting on the German inspection of a Turkish vessel en route to Libya, Akar indicated that the statements of Ankara’s allies don’t reflect the facts and some of those statements are flawed.
Under EU’s Operation IRINI, a German frigate on Sunday illegally stopped and searched a private Turkish-flagged ship carrying humanitarian aid to Libya, drawing condemnations from Turkish leaders, while Germany’s Defense Ministry later said its teams had found nothing banned on the Turkish vessel.
