September 22 (SeeNews) - The European Union (EU) imposed sanctions on Turkish vessel operator Avrasya Shipping and two other transport firms, as well as two persons, for violating the United Nations (UN) arms embargo in Libya, a decision published in the EU's official journal shows.
Avrasya Shipping's vessel Cirkin has been linked to transports of military material to Libya in May and June, thus violating the UN arms embargo in place for Libya, according to the EU decision published on Monday.
In a separate statement, the Council of the EU explained that the sanctions imposed comprise a travel ban and an asset freeze for natural persons, and an asset freeze for entities. Furthermore, EU persons and entities are banned from providing them with funds.
Turkey's foreign ministry criticised the move, claiming that the Cirkin ship was carrying humanitarian aid, Turkish Daily Sabah reported.
The vessel was involved in a naval incident in the Mediterranean between Turkey and France in June. The ship was said to have switched off its tracking system, disguised its identification number and refused to tell where it was going when a French ship tried to check if it is smuggling arms to Libya.