France Alleges Turkey Harassed Warship, Ankara Denies

Turkey has repulsed French claims of harassing one of its warships on a NATO mission on Wednesday.

"It is completely untrue. If one takes into account that the French warship was refuelled by our side before the alleged incident, it is clear how inappropriate and intentional the allegation is," a senior Turkish military official said, following the incident.

Earlier that day, the French defense ministry official had accused the Turkish navy of "harassing a French warship on a NATO mission."

France suspected Turkey's Tanzanian-flagged Cirkin cargo ship to be smuggling arms into Libya. French officials claimed that the vessel had switched off its tracking system, masked its ID number, and refused to say where it was going.

The Turkish military official told Reuters the French warship did not establish communications with the Turkish ship during the incident.