France pulls out of NATO Med operation over Turkey tensionsEarlier this month, France denounced an 'extremely aggressive' intervention by Turkish ships against a French navy vessel participating in the NATO mission there, a claimed dismissed by Ankara. PARIS - France said Wednesday it was suspending its participation in a NATO Mediterranean maritime security operation owing to the behaviour of Turkey, in a new escalation of a growing dispute between the two alliance allies. The defence ministry said France would no longer take part in the NATO operation until it gets a response to its concerns over the behaviour of Turkey. Ankara supports the UN-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) in the Libya conflict against rebel strongman Khalifa Haftar. - 'No NATO without Turkey' -Macron said last week that he believed the naval incident between France and Turkey was worrying proof of his belief that NATO is in the throes of "brain death".

Source: Bangkok Post July 01, 2020 17:03 UTC