Looming crisis in NATO: France hardens the tone against Turkey

"The Turks are behaving in an unacceptable manner and are exploiting NATO. France cannot just stand by." With this message, the French Elysée has hardened its tone against Turkey, calling its interventionism in Libya "unacceptable" and "intolerable". The statement also denounces ""even more aggressive and insistent stance from Turkey, with seven Turkish ships deployed off the Libyan coast and violations of the arms embargo," which has weighed on the North African nation since 2011, when civil war broke out.

Thus, Ankara is being criticised for its foreign policy movements. The conflict, in which the Eurasian nation participates directly with military equipment and the sending of Syrian mercenaries in support of the Government of National Accord (GNA), has moved to the forefront of the international agenda due to the intensification of the confrontations against the National Liberation Army (LNA).

This French declaration is in line with the line adopted by the Presidency, which has repeatedly condemned the silence' of the Atlantic Alliance with regard to Turkey's actions, such as, for example, the military offensives against the Kurdish militias in Syria, which are allies of the West - particularly the United States - in the fight against jihadist terrorism. In fact, French President Emmanuel Macron has already declared NATO to be "brain-dead," a message that raised controversy among members. 

Events were precipitated on Friday, when it became known that Turkey had prevented Operation IRINI, created by the European Union last February to ensure compliance with the arms embargo, from registering a suspicious vessel headed for Libya. The mission's vessel, which tried to approach the freighter, did not receive an affirmative response' from the latter, so it could not be inspected. Brussels then asked NATO to support Operation IRINI, although according to EU authorities, talks with the Alliance "were not motivated by this incident". "This is part of a natural process between two organisations that are cooperating and working together to achieve common results: the security and stability of Europe and its neighbourhood," said an EU spokesman. NATO could contribute to the EU's naval mission with its Operation Sea Guardian, which is already working in the Mediterranean Sea with two patrol ships.  

The French Presidency's communiqué also reveals that "in the coming weeks", talks will be held with the other partners of the Alliance to try to orchestrate a common response to Turkish interventionism on the southern shore of the Mare Nostrum. Until now, NATO's official position has been diffuse, given that Turkey is a member state. 

On the day of the incident, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar held a telephone conversation in which they discussed issues relating to Libya, Syria and other regional issues, the Turkish Ministry said in a statement. The call was also used to prepare for the meeting of NATO ministers to be held telematically on June 17-18, 2020. 

Turkey has also had a run-in with the United States in the last week, which is another key partner of the Alliance. A Turkish court sentenced Metin Topuz, a 61-year-old Turkish citizen who had been working as a translator and liaison for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) at the U.S. giant's consulate in Istanbul, to eight years and nine months in prison. Secretary of State for the Trump Administration Mike Pompeo said that "This conviction undermines confidence in Turkey's institutions and the critical trust at the foundation of Turkish-American relations" and analyst Carlotta Gall told the News York Times "Mr. Topuz's ruling on Thursday came amidst signs that US-Turkish relations [...] were showing signs of improvement". Just four days ago, on June 8, Erdogan claimed that a "new era" could begin between the two administrations after having achieved "a certain consensus" in the process in Libya, where Ankara is actively involved in the civil war. The telephone call between the two leaders focused on "bilateral relations, regional problems and the situation in Libya" said the Turkish Communication Directorate at the time.

With Greece, a member of the Alliance, the situation is also critical. Relations between the two countries have been strained by Ankara's "illegal" activities in the eastern Mediterranean, where it has launched gas exploration and drilling operations in waters that are disputed or belong to Athens, to the extent that there is fear of "a military confrontation" between the two NATO allies. In fact, Greek Defense Minister Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos recently stated that his country was prepared "for a military conflict with Turkey. Analysts consulted by Arab News believe that the outbreak of a war "is a scenario that is very unlikely to occur in the current circumstances", and that, rather, what will happen is that "the tense atmosphere between the two countries will continue, especially on the diplomatic front" and that, therefore, "instability will tend to continue throughout 2020 with certainty". 

We will have to wait, then, for the NATO meeting that will take place this week, and whether it will serve to defuse the situation in the Mediterranean, a region that has been heated up recently by the conflict of interests of the main powers involved.