France suspends its role in NATO naval mission over tensions with Turkey

France has suspended its involvement in a NATO naval mission in the Mediterranean, following the outcome of a probe into an incident between French and Turkish warships, an official at the Arms Forces Ministry said on Wednesday. 

In a letter sent to NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, the French Ambassador to NATO, Muriel Domenach, communicated the decision, stressing that France had made four demands to clarify the role of the NATO Sea Guardian operation, including its cooperation with an EU’s new Libya arms embargo mission in the Mediterranean. 

In his letter, Domenach said a NATO report into the bilateral incident, “did not establish the facts,” according to the French newspaper L’Opinion.

Tensions between Paris and Ankara have escalated further after Turkish warships were allegedly aggressive towards France’s Courbet battleship, operwation in the NATO Sea Guardian operation. Turkey has dismissed the claims as “groundless”.

The two countries have also been at loggerheads over the Libya conflict, with French President Emmanuel Macron saying, earlier in the week, that Turkey is bearing “criminal responsibility” for the situation in Libya, accusing the country of “massively importing” jihadists from Syria. The statement followed an accusation by the Turkish Foreign Ministry, that France is deepening the crisis in Libya by supporting the General Khalifa Haftar against the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA).

Turkey backs the Tripoli-based GNA led by Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj, with whom the country signed in 2019 two agreements on security and military cooperation and restriction of marine jurisdictions. France has frequently reiterated its position that it is not taking sides in Libya, saying, however, that Turkey endangered European security by sending Syrian fighters to Libya.

Ankara’s accusations came a few days after France called for talks among NATO allies on what it described as Turkey’s increasingly “aggressive” role in Libya, which was thwarting efforts to secure a ceasefire.