France shuns Nato sea mission over Turkey row

PARIS: France said Wednesday it was pulling out of a Nato Mediterranean maritime security operation until it gets a response to its concerns over the behaviour of fellow member Turkey.

“We have decided to temporarily withdraw our assets from the operation Sea Guardian” until France’s concerns are addressed, a French defence official, who asked not to be named, told reporters.

“It does not seem to us healthy to maintain our assets in an operation supposed, among its various tasks, to control an embargo alongside allies who do not respect it,” said the official in apparent reference to Turkey.

Paris demands in particular “that allies solemnly reaffirm their attachment and their commitment to the respect of the embargo” on weapons to Libya.

France also wants a better conflict-resolution mechanism within the military alliance, the official added.

Meanwhile, up to 60 migrants may have been trapped in a boat that sank in an eastern lake last week, Turkey’s interior minister said on Wednesday.

Turkey launched a search-and-rescue mission involving helicopters and boats after the boat carrying migrants across Lake Van was reported missing on June 27. So far, search teams have recovered six bodies.

Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, who travelled to Van to oversee the rescue operation, told reporters on Wednesday that authorities estimated the boat was carrying between 55 and 60 migrants when it went down in stormy weather.

Elevenotherpeopleweredetainedinconnection with the tragedy, he said. A village administrator has been removed from office for delaying reporting the incident, he added.

Soylu said experts think the sunken boat is under 110-120m of water. An underwater imaging system was dispatched from Ankara to locate the wreck, he added.

Haberturk television said the migrants are believed to be from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran.

Soylu said Turkey had detained 454,000 migrants last year.

The decision follows an escalation in tensions with Turkey over the Libya conflict which has seen both sides exchange accusations with increasing bitterness in recent days.

Earlier this month, France denounced an “extremely aggressive” intervention by Turkish ships against a French navy vessel participating in the Nato mission in the Mediterranean, a claim Ankara dismissed as “groundless.”

Ankara supports the Un-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) in the Libya conflict against commander Khalifa Haftar.