Latest North Atlantic Treaty Organization News

Turkey accuses EU of rewarding aggressor in Libya

Sep. 22, 2020 3:48 AM EDT

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey on Tuesday accused the European Union of “rewarding the aggressor” after the 27-nation bloc slapped sanctions on three transport companies for violating the U.N. arms embargo on Libya, including the Turkish shipping firm which operates a vessel that was at the...

Turkey's research vessel, Oruc Reis, rear, anchored off the coast of Antalya on the Mediterranean, Turkey, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2020. Greece's Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis welcomed the return of a Turkish survey vessel to port Sunday from a disputed area of the eastern Mediterranean that has been at the heart of a summer stand-off between Greece and Turkey over energy rights. (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)

Greece: Talks with Turkey on eastern Med could restart soon

Sep. 21, 2020 2:03 PM EDT

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece and Turkey are close to reviving talks on long-standing maritime disputes following a tense standoff over rights to exploit potential offshore natural gas deposits in the eastern Mediterranean, a Greek official said Monday. “We are close to restarting the exploratory...

Cypriot Foreign Minister Nicos Christodoulides, second right, speaks with Italy's Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio, left, during a meeting of EU foreign affairs ministers at the European Council building in Brussels, Monday, Sept. 21, 2020. European Union foreign ministers on Monday were weighing whether to impose sanctions on dozens of Belarus officials, including President Alexander Lukashenko, after holding talks with the country's exiled opposition leader. (Olivier Hoslet, Pool via AP)

EU sanctions Turkish firm over Libya arms embargo violations

Sep. 21, 2020 12:17 PM EDT

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union on Monday slapped sanctions on three transport companies for violating the U.N. arms embargo on Libya, including the Turkish shipping firm that operates a vessel at the center of a naval standoff in the Mediterranean Sea between Turkey and France three months ago. At...

Witnesses: Afghan government airstrikes kill 24 civilians

Sep. 20, 2020 11:08 AM EDT

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Government airstrikes in northern Afghanistan killed 24 civilians, including children, and wounded six others, witnesses told The Associated Press on Sunday. The two witnesses contacted by the AP said most of those killed in Saturday's airstrikes, which struck the village of...

France's Minister for European Affairs Clement Beaune, foreground, and Cyprus' Foreign Minister Nikos Christodoulides take part in a news conference at the Foreign Ministry building in the capital Nicosia, Friday, Sept. 18, 2020. Beaune says the European Union should consider imposing sanctions against Turkey if the country continues a hydrocarbons search inside waters where Greece and Cyprus claims exclusive rights. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

France: EU sanctions on Turkey an option over gas standoff

Sep. 18, 2020 6:28 PM EDT

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — France on Friday backed Cyprus' calls for the European Union to consider imposing tougher sanctions on Turkey if the Turkish government won't suspend its search for energy reserves in eastern Mediterranean waters where Cyprus and Greece claim exclusive economic rights. French...

A U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortress bomber, assigned to the 96th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron, deployed from Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, lands during exercise Lightning Focus at Royal Australian Air Force Base (RAAF) in Darwin, Australia, Dec. 6, 2018. The U.S. Air Force flew three B-1 heavy bombers over the East Siberian Sea, north of Russia’s far east, as part of recent maneuvers that the military said Friday are meant to demonstration of American capabilities and ability to support allies, but which a Russian commander blasted as “hostile and provocative.” The flight of the three Texas-based U.S. Air Force Reserve B-1 Lancer bombers on Thursday followed a similar mission a week ago in which three temporarily Britain-based B-52 bombers were flown over Ukrainian airspace, near Russia’s western flank. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Christopher Quail via AP)

Russian military says US flights near Crimea fuel tensions

Sep. 18, 2020 10:25 AM EDT

MOSCOW (AP) — The Russian military on Friday accused the U.S. and its allies of provoking tensions in the Black Sea region with a sharp increase in the number of bomber patrols and intelligence flights. Col.-Gen. Sergei Rudskoi, head of the Russian General Staff's main operational department, charged that...

Romania's military gets first U.S. Patriot missile shipment

Sep. 17, 2020 12:10 PM EDT

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romania’s armed forces received their first shipment of U.S. Patriot surface-to-air missiles on Thursday, part of efforts to upgrade the country’s military capabilities. The missiles made by defense contractor Raytheon, as well as recent purchases of F-16 fighter...

Greece: Contact with Turkey restarted over East Med crisis

Sep. 17, 2020 10:51 AM EDT

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece says it has resumed high-level political contacts with neighboring Turkey to try and de-escalate a dispute over offshore energy rights in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Stelios Petsas, the Greek government spokesman, said Thursday that direct contacts had restarted after Turkey...

FILE -- In this Sept. 22, 2016 file photo, fighters of the Libyan forces affiliated to the Tripoli government rest and reload weapons during an offensive against Islamic State militants, in Sirte, Libya. The warring parties in Libya and their international backers — the United Arab Emirates, Russia and Jordan vs Turkey and Qatar — violated a U.N. arms embargo on the oil-rich north African country that remains “totally ineffective,” U.N. experts said in a new report. (AP Photo/Manu Brabo, File)

Leader of Libya’s UN-backed gov't wants to hand over power

Sep. 16, 2020 6:53 PM EDT

CAIRO (AP) — The head of Libya’s U.N.-supported government said Wednesday night that he wants to hand over power to a new administration in October, amid peace talks on ending the country’s yearslong conflict. Fayez Serraj said the U.N.-brokered talks between the country’s rival...

European Council President Charles Michel makes statements after his meeting with Greece's Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis at Maximos Mansion in Athens, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020. Michel will visit Lesbos later today as Greece's migration minister says the government will use force if necessary to move homeless migrants to a new facility on the island after thousands of people were left without shelter by fires last week at an overcrowded refugee camp. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

EU: Greece-Turkey crisis talks might include other nations

Sep. 15, 2020 12:04 PM EDT

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Third countries may be invited to talks aimed at easing a dispute between Greece and Turkey over energy rights that has brought warships to the eastern Mediterranean, a top European Union official said Tuesday. Greece and Turkey have been involved in a standoff at sea for weeks over...

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