France and Turkey Clash Over Command of No-fly Zone Operations in Libya
Sarkozy and Gul (middle-east-online.com)
A bitter conflict erupted between Turkey and France over the leadership of the campaign against Libyan regime of Muammar al Qaddafi, a day after Germany pulled out four vessels from the Nato navy patrol in Mediterranean over the same squabble with Paris.
Turkey had manifested its discontent with the way Sarkozy thought out the entire campaign, but on Thursday it accused, through the voices of both PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the President Abdullah Gul, the “lack of conscience” in the conduct in Libya.
France insisted that Nato be kept out of the decision making process and took upon itself the leading role in the imposing on March 19 of the no-fly zone over Libyan territory, an undertaking that was tested on Thursday when a French fighting jet destroyed a Libyan plane that was crossing the zone.
Sarkozy and Erdogan (yeghishe.am)
Conversely, Turkey insisted that the operation be done under the leadership of Nato, whose members France and Turkey are.
It would seem that the conflict between France and Turkey was sparked by personal disagreements between PM Erdogan and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, by political interest in the north African region and by Turkey’s ambitions to become a full member of the European Union.
Erdogan accused in very tough terms France of not seeing the situation in Libya through conscience eyes but through those of the economic interest, a thesis enforced also by the Turkish president.
Turkey has reacted angrily, along with other Muslim countries, at the careless words of the French interior minister, who had said earlier in the week that France was leading “a crusade” against Qaddafi, words also uttered by the Russian PM Vladimir Putin, a statement that was slammed by the President Medvedev.
The senior Nato officials are gathering in Brussels these days to decide who is taking command of the no-fly zone operation as soon as Americans relinquish it.
While agreeing to give Nato planners the operational control, Sarkozy refused to give away the political command, insisting that the authority should be vested in the coalition of the willing.
Turkey, the second-largest member of Nato after the USA, insisted that the military bloc be given sole command.
Paris failed to call Turkish officials to the meeting that decided the attacks on Libya, triggering a very firm response from Ankara, which accused France and its president of starting by this action the presidential campaign.
U.S. top officer in Europe, Nato’s Supreme Commander in Europe, Admiral James Stavridis, is traveling to Ankara to mediate the conflict.
