Turkey criticizes France's role in Libya intervention

Ankara yesterday expressed its uneasiness regarding fellow NATO member France's "prominent role" in the UN-approved intervention in Libya, signaling further disagreements within the alliance. "France's being so prominent in this process is incomprehensible to us," Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul told reporters while meeting with his visiting Macedonian counterpart Zoran Konjanovski. "We're having difficulty understanding it acting like the enforcer of UN decisions." He added, "But later it became clear that it's the US that is in command." Turkey, which has spoken against intervention in Libya and called for an immediate cease-fire, wants careful planning on planned NATO involvement, concerned that an operation on a Muslim country could damage the alliance's reputation.