German FM announced withdrawal of German troops from Incirlik Air Base in Turkey


nsnbc : German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel announced that a withdrawal of several hundred troops from the Incirlik Air Base in Turkey is imminent.

Sigmar Gabriel_Ankara_Turkey_Jun 2017During his visit to Ankara and a joint press conference with his Turkish counterpart Mevlüt Cavusoglu, on Monday, German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said “I regret that, but please understand that for domestic reasons we will have to move the soldiers. … At the moment, the conditions for a visit to Incirlik are not afforded.”

Gabriel did not immediately mention an alternative base for the deployment of the German troops. Earlier this year the Defense Ministry prepared a report that identified eight possible and suitable new sites, including bases in Jordan, Kuwait and Cyprus. Gabriel said  “There is no decision, no concrete plan yet.”

The decision to withdraw German troops from Incirlic doesn’t come “out of the blue”. Members from the German parliament’s defense committee had on several occasions asked for permission to visit the 260 German troops stationed at the Incirlik Air Base but were refused.

Turkey’s AKP government, for its part, repeatedly demanded that Germany extradite Turkish soldiers and other Turkish citizens who are wanted in relation to last year’s failed military coup in Turkey.

Cavusoglu, for his part, said German lawmakers could visit their troops at the NATO base in Konya, but not at the Turkish base in Incirlik. Besides Turkish troops, there are also stationed U.S. and German troops at the base, but, as Gabriel suggested, the German troops will be withdrawn.

German’s Foreign Office tweeted Monday afternoon that, as a result of Turkey’s refusal to permit the visit …  “we will have to re deploy military staff. … We have a mutual interest in improving relations, but this will not be easy to achieve”.

Cavusoglu, for his part told reporters “We have welcomed them (German troops) when they came, and when they leave, we will kindly say good-bye to them”. Gabriel’s visit was fraught with diplomatic disagreements.

Turkey’s Prime Minister Binali Yildirim reportedly canceled a planned meeting with Gabriel because of a “busy work schedule”. The two had been scheduled to meet at 12.30 p.m. local time (0930GMT) in Ankara.

Germany, as a member of the international coalition against ISIS in Iraq and Syria and per its agreement with Turkey, uses the airbase to station its Tornado reconnaissance jets. The coalition also provides air support for Kurdish Peshmerga and the predominantly Syrian – Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Both Germany and Turkey are also a member of NATO, which formally joined the coalition against ISIS at last month’s summit in Brussels.

CH/L – nsnbc 05.06.2017



Source Article from https://nsnbc.me/2017/06/05/german-fm-announced-withdrawal-of-german-troops-from-incirlik-air-base-in-turkey/

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