On Tuesday, German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer rejected Ankara’s complaints over the search of a Turkish vessel in the Mediterranean Sea by German forces participating in the EU’s Naval Operation IRINI.
She insisted that the German troops had acted correctly with the Turkish vessel.
“It is very important to me to say clearly here that there are no grounds for these accusations that are now being made against the soldiers”, the German minister said.
“This debate with the Turkish side points to one of the fundamental problems of this European mission”, Kramp-Karrenbauer added.
Turkey has summoned diplomatic envoys from the EU, Germany, and Italy in protest over the inspection of a Turkish cargo ship heading to Libya. The ship was suspected of transporting weapons and military supplies to the conflict-ridden country.
On Monday, Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said that the search violated international law.