According to Peter Stano, the Spokesman of EU High Representative for Security and Foreign Policy Josep Borrell, Operation IRINI has not been able to confirm that the Turkish ship it stopped last Sunday off the coast of Libya did not commit any violations.
In statements, Stano added that the crew of Operation IRINI were unable to complete the inspection of the Turkish ship. “Until the moment the inspection process stopped, we did not find any violating material”, Stano stated.
Last Sunday, EU naval forces patrolling the Mediterranean stopped a Turkish flagged ship that was suspected of transporting weapons to Libya in violation of the UN arms embargo.
Stano said that IRINI’s crew could not confirm that the ship was not carrying illegal materials and refused any speculation about the real cargo of the ship. He explained that military units acted according to Security Council law number 2292 regarding the mechanism for inspecting ships.