Germany to pull out of Turkish base

Lawmakers denied entry to Incirlik

ANKARA, June 5, (RTRS): Germany will have to pull its forces out of the Incirlik air force base in southern Turkey because of Turkish government restrictions on German lawmakers seeking to visit troops there, Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Monday.

Gabriel was speaking after a meeting in Ankara with his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, which had aimed to address the standoff over Incirlik and other diplomatic tensions between the two NATO allies.

“My Turkish colleague explained to me that in the current situation, Turkey is not able to allow every visit by German parliamentarians to Incirlik — for domestic reasons,” Gabriel told a news conference.

Reasons

“I regret that. Conversely, I ask for understanding that we — for domestic political reasons — must transfer soldiers out of Incirlik, because the German parliament has a parliamentary army and places value on German lawmakers being able to visit Bundeswehr soldiers at any time.”

Shortly after he spoke, sources in Prime Minister Binali Yildirim’s office said the Turkish premier had cancelled a planned meeting with Gabriel, citing a busy work schedule.

Ties between Turkey and Germany deteriorated sharply in the run-up to Turkey’s April 16 referendum that handed President Tayyip Erdogan stronger presidential powers.

Turkey was infuriated when Germany, citing security concerns, banned some Turkish politicians from addressing rallies of expatriate Turks before the referendum. Ankara responded by accusing Berlin of “Nazi-like” tactics.

Turkey has prevented German lawmakers from visiting the roughly 250 troops stationed at Incirlik as part of the US-led coalition against Islamic State, saying that Berlin needs to improve its attitude first.

It has also called on Berlin to extradite people who are seeking asylum in Germany and have suspected links to last July’s attempted coup in Turkey.

“Those who seek asylum to escape Turkey and have been mixed up in the coup should be extradited,” Cavusoglu told the news conference.

Commenting on the case of GermanTurkish journalist Deniz Yucel, whom Turkey arrested in February on a charge of spreading terrorist propaganda, Cavusoglu said there was a trend in Europe for intelligence agencies to use journalists as agents.

He said Yucel’s case was a matter for the courts.

“Our independent judiciary is carrying out the process. The judiciary will make the decision on Yucel,” Cavusoglu said.

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Monday Germany should extradite people who are seeking asylum there and have suspected links to last July’s attempted coup in Turkey.

“Those who seek asylum to escape Turkey and have been mixed up in the coup should be extradited,” Cavusoglu told a news conference in Ankara with his German counterpart Sigmar Gabriel.

Turkey said on Monday it would strip citizenship from 130 people suspected of militant links, including the US-based cleric it blames for orchestrating last July’s failed coup, unless they return to the country within three months.

In a list of what it called fugitives from justice, the interior ministry named Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) lawmakers Faysal Sariyildiz and Tugba Hezer, and former HDP lawmaker Ozdal Ucer.

Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999, has denied involvement in the coup and condemned it.

The notice said the suspects identified in the list would be stripped of Turkish citizenship unless they returned to Turkey within the time limit and applied to the “relevant authorities”.

Since the July coup attempt, authorities have arrested 50,000 people and sacked or suspended 150,000, including soldiers, police, teachers and public servants, over alleged links with terrorist groups.

Gravity

While Turkish officials say the steps are necessary due to the gravity of the coup attempt which killed 240 people, critics in Turkey and abroad say President Tayyip Erdogan is using the coup as a pretext to muzzle dissent and purge opponents.

More than a dozen HDP lawmakers have also been jailed, mostly due to suspected links with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has waged a three-decade insurgency in Turkey.