Tripoli, March 21: Opposition to the Libya invasion has left NATO unable to reach an agreement on taking over the military command of the military operation in the North African country.
Turkey, which is leading the objections, has rejected any NATO intervention in oil-rich Libya.
Turkey’s defense minister has criticized France that first bombed Libya, saying it disrupted NATO plans without informing the allies.
“It seems impossible for us to understand France being so prominent in this process. We are having difficulty in understanding it being like the enforcer of United Nations’ decisions,” Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul said on Monday.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has also hinted that steps regarding Libya should be taken within the framework of international legitimacy.
“There are legal procedures for the establishment of a coalition in an international operation. We take the view that for Libya, these were not sufficiently respected,” Davutoglu said.
Ankara has called for a review of other possible measures NATO could take in Libya.
It has also called for an immediate Western ceasefire, urging NATO to give greater consideration to the possibility of civilian deaths.
Germany also announced that it prefers to stay out of the conflict.
The German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle defended Berlin’s decision not to take part in the Western invasion of Libya, warning of a protracted conflict in the turmoil-hit country.
“It is not because we have some sort of lingering soft spot for [Libyan ruler Muammar] Gaddafi’s system that we decided not to send German troops to Libya, but because we also have to see the risks of a lengthy mission,” Westerwelle said on Sunday.
The British defense secretary, however, expressed hope that NATO would take command of the campaign in the next few days.
The developments come as the Arab League criticized the Western coalition’s airstrikes over Libya.
Moreover, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin says a United Nations Security Council resolution on Libya is defective and flawed, and resembles a medieval call to crusade.
“To me, it resembles some sort of medieval call to crusade when someone would appeal to someone to go to a certain place and free someone else,” Putin said on Monday.
“The resolution by the Security Council, of course, is defective and flawed,” he added.
Dozens of civilians have been killed in Libya since the US, Britain, France and some other Western countries launched their attacks on the North African country.
——Agencies