A collaborative effort by the EU, UN and NATO to control Turkish influence in Libya has caused outrage in Turkey. It is to be expected that Erdogan would blame Greece, since Erdogan habitually scapegoats the Greeks. He has been bullying Greece for some time, prompting the Greek government to begin bolstering its military, due to Turkey’s “provocative statements” and “near-daily” threats of war.
Turkish interference and provocation does not stop with Greece, as is clearly indicated on the agenda of the December EU Council meeting. Turkey is providing weapons to jihadist militants in Libya, and has now combined forces with Qatar to help build a Muslim Brotherhood regime in Tripoli. Turkey and Qatar’s defense ministers have just “signed a military agreement with the Muslim Brotherhood Government in Tripoli.” Part of that agreement involved setting up a military camp to train Muslim Brotherhood troops.
Let’s hope the EU makes tangible efforts to reign in Turkey, as it is fast becoming the Sunni version of Iran. As a NATO member, Turkey has been also pushing for EU membership, while simultaneously insulting the EU as a “sick man” that is “collapsing.” It is noteworthy that the German operation to inspect the Turkish vessel on the Mediterranean was also backed by NATO.
“Erdoğan blames Greece for German commandos boarding Turkish ship near Libya,” by Paul Antonopoulos, Greek City Times, November 26, 2020:
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan blamed Greece and Cyprus for German commandos inspecting a Turkish vessel on behalf of a European Union mission to implement an arms embargo on Libya.
“Despite the provocations by Greece and the [the Republic of Cyprus] on the eastern Mediterranean issue, we have reacted with patience and restraint,” Erdoğan said when speaking to deputies of the ruling AKParty.
“However, despite our patient and restrained attitude, they recently raided our freighter that was transporting cargo to Libya. This was not in line with the international law of the sea,” Erdoğan said.
“Once again, the captain of the ship that conducted the operation was a Greek national. When they boarded the ship, they harassed the crew,” he added.
German commandos attached to the EU’s Irini Operation, with approval from NATO, are attempting to enforce a UN arms embargo against Libya.
The German soldiers boarded and searched the Rosaline A freighter on Monday with suspicion it was smuggling weapons to Libya.
Berlin received huge backlash from their Turkish allies for this move.
A spokesperson of the German Foreign Ministry said Turkey’s overall behavior – including the latest incident – is on the agenda of the December European Council….
terry sullivan says
turkey should not be in nato
it should be removed from northern cyprus
Beverly Teboe says
Totally agree. Islam does not need to be part of any western culture, period. Erdogan wants to be Caliph and he will continue pushing, and pushing until people start pushing back. The only reason NATO puts up with his shit is because of Turkey’s geographical location. Maybe some Mossad types need to remove him and put Turkey back on a secular path.
mortimer says
Islam should not be part of Western culture … not because we are intolerant of Islam, but because Islam is intolerant of us and wishes to subjugate and destroy us.
Infidel says
Beverly, Turkey will never again be on a secular path. The overwhelming majority of its population is Islamic, and under Erdogan, takes pride in not just its Ottoman, but also its Seljuq and other assorted Turkic legends, the bulk of who were Islamic. One of Erdogan’s showpieces are the 16 legendary Turkic empires, which were not just the Turkish ones like the Seljuqs and Ottomans, but also others, like the Qhwarezmids, Timurides, Tatar, Ghaznavids, Mughals. There’s also the fact that the Turks were an even more powerful Islamizing force in history than the Arabs – from India over an 800 year period to the Balkans as well as in Turkestan and the fringes of the Russian empire – Tatarstan and Crimea.
They’re never gonna turn away from that!
Pal says
“Infidel”, you are a Russian, Vl. Putin loving, troll!
You should get lost out of here!
(“christianblood”, ha ha)
Infidel says
Except, genius, that unlike ‘christianblood’, I’ve never supported the Iranian regime nor attacked the Israelis. Nor am I a habitual attacker of the West, the way he was
juleonly says
Finally, someone takes some actions. Please follow through with firmness. If only someone would do the same o Qatar.
jewdog says
Our NATO ally, stopped by our other NATO allies. The Nonsensical Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Beverly Teboe says
Yes NATO has outlived its purpose. Germany has no intention of upholding their end of the bargain. Since Germany has allowed Islam to completely infiltrate who will the Islamists support if there is a war? Does Germany really believe these people will stand with Germany? Figure the odds.
Infidel says
Precisely! What’s the template: who are we to support when there is a rift b/w 2 NATO members?
High time we pull out of this organization. Not only is it a joke: we have more pressing military needs in the Indo-Pacific region
juleonly says
Because it was from the past with Ataturk and money made from trade, bases, and lots of Turks in Germany. But then Erdogan took over and went back a hundred years.
jewdog says
More than a hundred.
Infidel says
Doesn’t matter. The Soviets have been gone for almost 30 years (the coming year will make it a full 30) and Turkey has not been an ally during the whole time. If anything, Turkey is our #1 rival in the Middle East and Europe
Germany and the rest of Europe need to do something about all the Turks living there, before it’s too late
mortimer says
Turkey should be penalized both diplomatically and economically. Turkish shipping should have additional rules slapped on it. Captains and crews should be arrested and tried.
mortimer says
Oh, the irony of EU supporting Turkey and Muslim migration on the one hand and now they are trying to stop Turkish takeover of Libya. Once Turkey rules in Libya, what will stop them from continuing onto other dominoes?
Crusades Were Right says
Turkey is the “neighbour from Hell”!
GreekEmpress says
Agree with all the above.
Infidel says
Aside from the stuff about NATO, we need to start having a clear policy on Libya. I see no reason why we shouldn’t support Gen Haftar. He’s well known in DC – an ex-resident of Falls Church and Vienna. He supported US attempts to topple Col Gaddaffi. He’s not a jihadist, unlike his rivals, which is a part of why both Cairo and Moscow support him
We shouldn’t let the fact that Moscow supports him get in the way: we should give him our unqualified support, and let him stabilize a country that we stupidly destabilized. Yeah, the Gadaffi of the 80s was a terrorist, and President Reagan did well to bomb Tripoli and Benghazi in 1986. The Gadaffi of the ’00s was a reformed leader, even if only after the Iraq war: he wound up his WMD program to the satisfaction of the US, compensated the Lockerbie bombing victims and did everything that Western countries wanted in exchange of normalized relations. There was no good reason to topple him during the Arab Spring, but having done that, and converted Libya into an ISIS province, the best way to repair that damage is to support Haftar in taking over, and give up on that inane Bush-Sharansky theory that a democratic Libya would be a peaceful paradise
RonaldB says
On the whole, I like your comment. It’s true that Hillary-Barak purposely destabilized Libya, deposed and assassinated Ghaddafi, and opened the way for ISIS, jihadists, and open-air slave markets. And, perhaps not incidentally, opened up the path to Europe for millions of African refugees/grifters who are now mugging citizens and tossing hand grenades in European streets. So, why should we support someone who supported the assassination of Ghaddafi?
Seems to me the best way for the US to deal with Libya is to stay far, far away. Somehow, all US efforts at controlling African governments end up in the dung heap, along with millions of African bodies.
Infidel says
That is the other best alternative: just stay out of it all. I’m not sure that the US can: the State Department likes getting involved everywhere
ElderlyZionist says
What contraband, if any, did the German Marines find on the Turkish freighter, and what has been done about it?
SKA says
Deutschland über Allah!
gravenimage says
EU-sanctioned German commandos board Turkish ship in Mediterranean to enforce UN arms embargo on Libya
…………….
Good to hear–and very surprising, too.
Drew Webb says
Would be a really good idea for the USA to remove the nukes from Turkey.
Infidel says
Not just that, shut down Incirlik completely. Or hand it back to the Turks, after sabotaging it so that it can’t be lethally used against the likes of Greece, Cyprus, Armenia, et al
Paul Winter says
Trump should remove nuclear weapons from Incirlik air base before Erdogan gets the urge to seize them.
OLD GUY says
Erdogan is a danger to the world and is destroying Turkey.
patriot eagle says
Germany commandos were denied freedom to search entire ship. Nothing suspicious found, but then the bill of lading is going to show weapons and the containers where probably not searched.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unHRcxRa9e0
patriot eagle says
Qatari’s Aljazeera jihad broadcasting panel discussion about the active forces in Libya Jun 5 2020:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29BPZVMvKnw