Germany rejects Turkey’s protest against interception of its vessel in Mediterranean

Turkey’s protest against German soldiers boarding a Turkish vessel on behalf of an EU military mission in the Mediterranean is unjustified, Germany’s defense minister said.

“The soldiers behaved correctly and acted absolutely in line with the mandate of the European mission Irini,” Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said on Tuesday.

“The accusations that are being raised against the soldiers are unjustified.”

Turkey protested on Monday after German forces belonging to the EU mission tasked with enforcing a UN arms embargo against Libya boarded and tried to search a Turkish cargo ship that the EU suspected of taking weapons to Libya illegally.