Germany has no choice but to leave Turkish airbase: German FM

ANKARA, Turkey (Kurdistan24) – Germany has “no choice” but to begin removing its forces from the Incirlik air force base in Turkey as the Turkish government has still denied German lawmakers to visit troops stationed there, Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Monday.

“Turkey has made clear that, for domestic political reasons, it cannot approve visits of all lawmakers,” Gabriel told a news conference following a meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in Ankara.

“German lawmakers must be able to visit the Bundeswehr,” Gabriel added. “Turkey must understand that in this situation, we must transfer German soldiers out of Incirlik.”

“In this situation, the Bundestag (parliament) will ask the government to find another location for the German soldiers in Incirlik,” he informed.

The German Foreign Minister traveled to Turkey in a bid to calm growing tensions between Berlin and Ankara.

Top on the minister’s list was securing German lawmakers’ access to troops at the Incirlik airbase, but the two failed to break a deadlock over the visit.

Earlier in May, Chancellor Angela Merkel had threatened to look for alternatives to the airbase as Ankara denied German lawmakers permission to visit their country’s troops stationed there.

Over 250 soldiers are serving at Incirlik where they are involved in the air campaign against the Islamic State (IS) in Syria and Iraq.

The current Incirlik crisis between the two NATO countries is the continuation of a series of political and diplomatic disputes.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany