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| The Grand Turk | ||
| Turkey questioning US use of Incirlik air base | ||
| 2017-01-05 | ||
| Turkey has begun to question the use of the İncirlik air base by the anti-Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) coalition forces, as the U.S. has failed to support Ankara’s offensive in the al-Bab region against the jihadist group, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on Jan. 4. “Our people ask, ‘why are they [coalition forces] using the İncirlik Airbase [if the coalition does not provide aerial support to the Euphrates Shield operation]. We allowed not only the U.S. but also other countries’ jets to use İncirlik to jointly fight [ISIL],” Çavuşoğlu told state-run Anadolu Agency. “What purpose are you serving if you do not provide aerial support against DEASH in the most sensitive operation for us?” he added. “The U.S. is a very important ally for us. We have cooperation in every field. But there is the reality of a confidence crisis in the relationship at the moment,” Çavuşoğlu said.
“Giving arms to the YPG, the U.S. chose a terrorist organization over its ally,” he said, adding that those arms had later found their way into the hands of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Turkey.
“We know that PYD/YPG forces are in Manbij, as our president stated yesterday [to U.S. President Barack Obama]. Obama said he agrees with us on the subject that these forces should return to the east of the Euphrates,” he said, adding that Washington has been in agreement with Turkey from the beginning but “had not kept its promises.” Çavuşoğlu also alleged that the U.S. is dragging its heels on the extradition of Fetullah Gülen, thought to have masterminded Turkey’s failed July 15, 2016 military coup attempt. He said Gülen was still able to give orders to his followers in the “Fethullah Terror Organization (FETÖ)” through encrypted messages. Recalling that FETÖ was added to the list of terrorist organizations to be fought against at the recent meetings of the Islamic Cooperation Organization and the Gulf Cooperation Council, Çavuşoğlu vowed that the Ankara would continue to pursue the issue domestically and abroad. “The terrorist leader freely threatens Turkey, gives instructions, and sends messages from there. Unfortunately, we have not seen any support from the [Obama] administration about this. They tell us to give positive messages about anti-Americanism in Turkey, but I do not know what to say,” he said. Addressing the incoming Donald Trump administration in the U.S., Çavuşoğlu voiced optimism that it would be more proactive on the FETÖ issue and said Turkey believed relations would be maintained “clearly and openly” with the new administration. “We are always in contact with the U.S., regardless of who comes to power [as U.S. president]. We are allies, and we cooperate and have joint targets in many fields. We are NATO allies but both sides must do what is necessary for the alliance. We think and believe the new administration also has this understanding,” he stated. Meanwhile, Defense Minister Fikri Işık also said on Jan. 4 that the lack of the U.S.-led anti-ISIL coalition’s air support in Turkey’s Euphrates Shield operation in Syria’s al-Bab “raises questions” about the mission of the İncirlik Air Base in the southern province of Adana. “We hope that all coalition forces, primarily the U.S., give air and other support that Turkey needs in the Euphrates Shield operation and the necessary step will be taken soon,” Işık told journalists in Ankara. “But it is thought-provoking that despite the fact we have been NATO allies for years, and that a coalition has been established to fight against ISIL, the coalition does not support the Euphrates Shield operation launched by the Free Syrian Army and supported by the Turkish Armed Forces. Al-Bab is a very critical location in the anti-ISIL fight,” he said. The anti-ISIL coalition has used the strategic İncirlik base in its operations against ISIL in Syria since July 2015. Currently manned and unmanned U.S. warplanes carry out strikes on ISIL from Turkey using the İncirlik base. | ||
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #15 Screw that, invade, give the turks the Armenian treatment and then give the country to the Kurds. |
| Posted by: Silentbrick 2017-01-05 22:03 |
| #14 It was a shithole years earlier. Amen to the nuke! Maybe leave a timer on it and fuggetaboutit! |
| Posted by: illeagle 2017-01-05 17:06 |
| #13 They are not allies. They are a third world country with trappings of second world. I had to walk through that shithole in Oct 1973. So-called maneuvers after we weren't allowed into Israel, and had no funds (just hearsay, that) to fly us back home for about ten days. Got a really close look at Turkey, found it well named. NOT my fave country in the world. We would be wise to get out now before hostage taking starts. |
| Posted by: Whiskey Mike 2017-01-05 15:33 |
| #12 Leaving one nuke underground, to be removed with the last flight out, for insurance. |
| Posted by: gorb 2017-01-05 15:26 |
| #11 The Turkish govt is getting to the level of Pakistan, where we cannot function there without a buttload of baksheesh. Even that does not work, re: 4ID bruhaha. We are beyond the time that we should be safely out of there. President-elect Trump needs to get us out of there quietly as soon as he takes office. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2017-01-05 15:02 |
| #10 Safe to say we just got the proverbial two week notice. |
| Posted by: Raj 2017-01-05 14:08 |
| #9 Didn't Francis Gary Powers fly out of Incirlik? But that was in ... lesee... carry the nine ... 1960? No, that was Peshawar, Pak. But some of the U-2 flights were out of Incirlik. Wikipedia U-2 |
| Posted by: Bobby 2017-01-05 13:55 |
| #8 Ahem...'last war' as in the potential, pending conflict of the Cold War era, resolved by Reagan. Not the End of Civilization 'last war' so recently being promoted by the Democratic leadership. |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2017-01-05 12:31 |
| #7 Someone is going to have to explain to me why that air base is so important to us... Well, it's just a 5hr flight to Moscow, @1500 land miles. Ready naval resupply and egress to the Med and also a pretty good Cold War era ground station location for down links of low orbit surveillance nicely sandwiched longitudinally between Madrid and Diego Garcia. All in all, a pretty important historic strategic location for fighting the last war, as so many are. |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2017-01-05 12:27 |
| #6 I seem to recall something about Donald Trump having experience with construction... so he'd know how to quickly and properly construct a landing field in Kurdistan, right? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2017-01-05 10:42 |
| #5 Someone is going to have to explain to me why that air base is so important to us that we don't tell the Turks to go pound sand. Cause the Admirals and Generals said if we closed Subic Bay and Clark Airfield the world would end. Sometimes the experts aren't. Change is hard on some people. Particularly those who refuse to understand that change is natural and the attempts to maintain the status quo are unnatural, and can be very expensive in the long run, far beyond their own immediate agendas. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2017-01-05 07:19 |
| #4 If you could just extradite this meddlesome priest Muhammet Fethullah Gülen now living in Pennsylvania, we could all be friends once again. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2017-01-05 06:08 |
| #3 |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2017-01-05 06:01 |
| #2 "The U.S. is a very important ally for us. We have cooperation in every field. But there is the reality of a confidence crisis in the relationship at the moment," Irritating, isn't it? {Remembering back to the invasion of Iraq} |
| Posted by: gorb 2017-01-05 02:33 |
| #1 Leave Turkey yesterday and transfer lots of weapons to the Kurds. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2017-01-05 02:23 |