Baku, Azerbaijan, June 5
Trend:
Germany has no choice but to begin the process of pulling its forces out of Incirlik air force base in Turkey, Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Monday after his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu announced the Turkish government will not allow German lawmakers to visit troops there, TRT World reports.
Turkey has prevented German lawmakers from visiting the roughly 250 troops stationed at Incirlik as part of the US-led coalition against the “Islamic State” terrorist group (aka IS or Daesh), saying that Berlin needs to improve its attitude first.
Turkey will maintain a ban on visits by German politicians to the key air base in its south which is used for raids against IS in Syria, Cavusoglu said on Monday at a joint press conference after a meeting with Gabriel in Ankara.
“At the moment a visit to the NATO base in Konya is possible, rather than Incirlik,” Cavusoglu said.