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| Europe |
| Our Allies, the |
| 2004-10-31 |
| October 30, 2004: Turkey has turned down another request, by the U.S. military, for greater access to bases in Turkey. The request was made in late September as a part of U.S. plans announced in August to realign its global forces deployment in Europe and Asia. The U.S. wanted to put at least two squadrons (around 48 F-16s) at Incirlik Air Base, currently serving as a hub for airlift operations to Afghanistan. The Turkish military views the request as a potential infringement of the country's sovereignty. The U.S. had requested Turkey to permit the F-16s to conduct day and night low-altitude and supersonic flights and mid-air refueling during training exercises, activities that the Turkish air force is not allowed to do around the base. Earlier, Turkey had rejected a U.S. request for increased access to the Konya training range, saying that the U.S. has sought blanket approval for training exercises. Under a 1980 NATO agreement, the U.S. can bring in up to 48 aircraft to Incirlik for training purposes. |
| Posted by:Mrs. Davis |
| #18 Shipman and Tom are both right. If the Turkish Air Force can't perform those activities around its own air base, it's really not logical to expect they would give a foreign air force permission to do them either. |
| Posted by: Joe 2004-10-31 11:00:05 AM |
| #17 Im not having any problems .????????? |
| Posted by: Sentinel 2004-10-31 5:03:50 PM |
| #16 If the Turks want to cast their lot with the Phrench, then that's fine. What we need to do is to start treating the Phrench, and those that ally themselves with the Phrench, as hostile entities. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2004-10-31 10:37:39 PM |
| #15 Regardless or not if they have a point, I think it's good that we finally put to bed this idea that the Turkish Military will somehow step in and keep the Islamist's in Turkey in line. Turkey is not now, and for quite some time now has not been our friend. Those in military planning and government who continue to believe that somehow, some way, they will see the light are dreaming and need to wake up to the reality that Chirac and Erdogan are enemies and the Turkish Military aren't in control...or if they are, they aren't on our side. Here's a saying for those of you who still want to believe...fooled me once, shame on you, fooled me twice...shame on me. It doesn't matter how self-destructive Chirac or Erdogan's dreams of grandeur may be. They aren't our friends and they aren't going to become them. Deal with it. |
| Posted by: 2b 2004-10-31 9:25:39 PM |
| #14 redirected that is. |
| Posted by: whitecollar redneck 2004-10-31 6:36:13 PM |
| #13 me too |
| Posted by: whitecollar redneck 2004-10-31 5:34:07 PM |
| #12 [Off-topic or abusive comments deleted] |
| Posted by: Sentinel TROLL 2004-10-31 5:03:50 PM |
| #11 OT, but just what is going wrong with Page Two? It's redirecting me to an site called "Your Virtual World." |
| Posted by: Korora 2004-10-31 4:59:41 PM |
| #10 Beirut has a fine harbor and airheads could be established in Syria and Iraq......just a thought |
| Posted by: RWV 2004-10-31 2:17:53 PM |
| #9 Obviously not an ally. Not even a friend. |
| Posted by: Kalle (kafir forever) 2004-10-31 1:59:07 PM |
| #8 We don't have a good replacement for Incirlik -- yet. Faster, please. Turkey can go rot. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2004-10-31 12:28:35 PM |
| #7 Another way to look at it: Turkey still thinks they can get into the EU. To do so, they must please Chiraq and Schroeder. We don't have a good replacement for Incirlik -- yet. |
| Posted by: rkb 2004-10-31 12:17:54 PM |
| #6 Makes my life simpler. I've used to say "If you think that any Islamic country---except Turkey---is your (US) ally, you live in a fantasy world". |
| Posted by: Anonymous6236 2004-10-31 11:57:52 AM |
| #5 Exactly. |
| Posted by: docob 2004-10-31 11:40:25 AM |
| #4 If that's the case then docob, looks like there isn't any goodwill left at that end. |
| Posted by: Tony (UK) 2004-10-31 11:23:27 AM |
| #3 "They may have a point here." That's one way to look at it. Another way to look at it is that the Turks owe us, big time, after their betrayal in the runup to the Iraq invasion, and accepting a few minorly and perhaps even symbolically "unbalanced" requests may be a relatively cheap and painless way for them to demonstrate that some goodwill remains on their end. |
| Posted by: docob 2004-10-31 11:08:39 AM |
| #2 I don't think that being in an alliance means that you have to give blanket approvals. Did the 1980 NATO agreement for "training" include day and night low-altitude and supersonic flights and mid-air refueling? |
| Posted by: Tom 2004-10-31 10:39:35 AM |
| #1 The U.S. had requested Turkey to permit the F-16s to conduct day and night low-altitude and supersonic flights and mid-air refueling during training exercises, activities that the Turkish air force is not allowed to do around the base. They may have a point here. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-10-31 10:28:15 AM |