Germany mulls withdrawing jets from Incirlik base amid souring ties with Turkey – media

August 25th, 2016

Awake Goy

The Bundeswehr is evaluating several options, which include moving six Tornado reconnaissance jets and refueling aircraft from Incirlik to Jordanian or Cypriot air bases, Spiegel magazine reported on Thursday, citing military sources.

The warplanes regularly fly combat missions to support the US-led coalition’s air campaign against Islamic State (IS, previously ISIS/ISIL) in neighboring Iraq and Syria.

The source told the magazine that the withdrawal would be “a nightmare,” because basing the Tornados in Jordan or Cyprus would be more expensive and complicated than at Incirlik, and the move would put German participation in the US-coalition on hold for at least two months.

Currently, aerial intelligence collected by German Tornados is directly uploaded into the coalition’s systems, but this would be impossible when flying out of bases in Jordan or Cyprus, the source added.

The German Defense Ministry chose not to comment on the alleged plans. “We would like to continue the mission from Turkey, but there are alternatives to the base in Incirlik,” a Ministry spokesman was cited as saying by Spiegel.

According to the magazine, the withdrawal is advocated by Social Democrat members of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition government who believe that, given Turkey’s refusal to allow German MPs access to Incirlik, there is no alternative.

Last month, the Chancellor demanded that German lawmakers be allowed to visit the 250 German soldiers deployed at the Turkish base, although she refrained from threatening to withdraw the German task force.

However, Rainer Arnold, a defense spokesman for the Social Democrats’ parliamentary faction, told Spiegel “The German government must promptly find other bases for German soldiers.”

The party defense spokesman also stressed that the unresolved dispute with Ankara could also end Germany’s participation in a separate NATO AWACS mission at another Turkish air base in Konya, as these aircraft are mainly operated by German crews as well.

Without the approval of the Social Democrats, the government cannot extend the mission when it expires in December.

Already strained relations between Germany and Turkey were aggravated in June, when the Bundestag, Germany’s parliament, passed a resolution recognizing the 1915 massacre of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire as “genocide.”

Multiple media outlets reported that German MPs of Turkish descent received death threats after voting in favor of the resolution and were advised not to travel to Turkey for safety reasons.

Source Article from https://www.rt.com/news/357121-germany-incirlik-airbase-withdraw/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS