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Turkey Opens Probe Into German Search of Its Libya-bound Vessel

Frigate “Hamburg” runs out of the harbor for a five-month Mediterranean mission as part of IRINI operation, August 4, 2020 (Getty Images)
Frigate “Hamburg” runs out of the harbor for a five-month Mediterranean mission as part of IRINI operation, August 4, 2020 (Getty Images)
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Turkey Opens Probe Into German Search of Its Libya-bound Vessel

Frigate “Hamburg” runs out of the harbor for a five-month Mediterranean mission as part of IRINI operation, August 4, 2020 (Getty Images)
Frigate “Hamburg” runs out of the harbor for a five-month Mediterranean mission as part of IRINI operation, August 4, 2020 (Getty Images)

Turkey has opened a probe Friday into the suspension of its freighter Rosaline A in the Mediterranean Sea by marines from the German frigate Hamburg, part of the European Union's Operation Irini, which is tasked to enforce a UN embargo to stop weapons reaching conflict-torn Libya.

In a statement issued on Friday, the public prosecutor in Ankara said that although there was no authorization to search the commercial vessel in open waters on November 22, it was unlawfully searched, adding that it “opened an investigation” over the incident.

The German frigate Hamburg had boarded the freighter after orders from the mission's headquarters in Rome on suspicion it carried weapons to Libya.

The search operation was suspended as Turkey disapproved Irini’s “unilateral” action, saying the search was “unauthorized and conducted by force” and insisted that its objections prior to the search were ignored.

Irini later confirmed that the commercial Turkish cargo vessel was carrying food and paint supplies to Libya in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Turkey’s National Security Council (MGK) chaired by President Recep Tayyip Erdoaan expressed Turkey’s disapproval and condemnation of Irini’s “unilateral” action and it reiterated the country’s determination to take the necessary steps against it.

Operation IRINI is a concrete contribution to international efforts to help to end the conflict in Libya.

In a related development, German media said a classified EU document revealed illegal arms cargo bound for Libya. It explained that a secret EU report cited by the German news agency DPA on Friday, indicated the Roseline A had long been watched on suspicion of making illegal arms shipments.

In a report for United Nations experts, EU-Irini military analysts had previously spotted military aircraft being unloaded in the Libyan port of Misrata in satellite images, the German news magazine Der Spiegel reported.

Operation IRINI said in a statement issued last week that it had reasonable grounds to suspect that it could be acting in violation of the UN arms embargo.

“Operation IRINI boarded the vessel and inspected it in accordance with internationally agreed procedures including NATO procedures and operation IRINI’s boarding team acted with the highest degree of professionalism,” it said.

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Italy’s Foreign Minister Heads to Syria to Encourage Post-Assad Transition

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)
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Italy’s Foreign Minister Heads to Syria to Encourage Post-Assad Transition

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said he would travel to Syria on Friday to encourage the country's transition following the ouster of President Bashar Assad by insurgents, and appealed on Europe to review its sanctions on Damascus now that the political situation has changed.
Tajani presided over a meeting in Rome on Thursday of foreign ministry officials from five countries, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and the United States.
The aim, he said, is to coordinate the various post-Assad initiatives, with Italy prepared to make proposals on private investments in health care for the Syrian population.
Going into the meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and their European counterparts, Tajani said it was critical that all Syrians be recognized with equal rights. It was a reference to concerns about the rights of Christians and other minorities under Syria’s new de facto authorities of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HT.
“The first messages from Damascus have been positive. That’s why I’m going there tomorrow, to encourage this new phase that will help stabilize the international situation,” Tajani said.
Speaking to reporters, he said the European Union should discuss possible changes to its sanctions on Syria. “It’s an issue that should be discussed because Assad isn’t there anymore, it’s a new situation, and I think that the encouraging signals that are arriving should be further encouraged,” he said.
Syria has been under deeply isolating sanctions by the US, the European Union and others for years as a result of Assad’s brutal response to what began as peaceful anti-government protests in 2011 and spiraled into civil war.
HTS led a lightning insurgency that ousted Assad on Dec. 8 and ended his family’s decades-long rule. From 2011 until Assad’s downfall, Syria’s uprising and civil war killed an estimated 500,000 people.
The US has gradually lifted some penalties since Assad departed Syria for protection in Russia. The Biden administration in December decided to drop a $10 million bounty it had offered for the capture of a Syrian opposition leader whose forces led the ouster of Assad last month.
Syria’s new leaders also have been urged to respect the rights of minorities and women. Many Syrian Christians, who made up 10% of the population before Syria’s civil war, either fled the country or supported Assad out of fear of insurgents.