Posted on 04/25/2005 1:05:29 PM PDT by TexKat
ANKARA, Turkey - After months of delay, Turkey's Cabinet on Monday approved a long-standing U.S. request to have increased access to a strategic air base for flying into Iraq and Afghanistan.
The decision was another step toward improving relations with Washington that were strained when Turkey refused to allow U.S. troops to stage an invasion of Iraq from Turkish territory in March 2003.
A Cabinet decree — allowing the United States to fly in more cargo planes into the southern Incirlik Air Base for one year beginning in June — was sent to President Ahmet Necdet Sezer for approval, the semiofficial Anatolia news agency said.
The details of the agreement were not released. The U.S. request, which was relayed to Turkey in June, asked permission to establish a logistics hub at Incirlik.
U.S. Ambassador Eric Edelman and Turkish Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul are scheduled to hold a joint news conference on the deal Tuesday.
According to private NTV television, Turkey also accepted a U.S. request for blanket clearance for all cargo flights, backing off an earlier stance that each flight should get separate permission before landing and takeoff.
U.S. diplomats had expressed unease about Turkey's delay and its insistence on requiring separate permission for each flight.
The United States plans to fly in large civilian cargo flights to Incirlik and redistribute the goods to military planes for Afghanistan and Iraq.
Incirlik now hosts some 10 KC-135 refueling aircraft, supporting operations for Afghanistan and Iraq. There are about 1,400 airmen at the base.
The current deal expires June 23. The one-year mandate of the new agreement likely will start then.
Turkey last year allowed the United States to fly thousands of U.S. troops out of Iraq through Incirlik, which is about 600 miles from the Iraq border and 2,000 miles west of Afghanistan. The United States has had access to Incirlik since 1954.
Incirlik was used by the United States and its allies during the 1991 Gulf War to launch airstrikes against Iraq. It was the hub for U.S.-led flights enforcing a no-fly zone over Iraq for 12 years until 2003.
The base also was the main U-2 operating location until May 1960, when Francis Gary Powers' aircraft was shot down by Soviet surface-to-air missiles over Sverdlovsk.
Incirlik Air Base ping
It'll change in five minutes the next time a militant raghead wants them to demonstrate their ties to Islam.
Too little, too late.
please don't add me to your ping- but anyone who served in S. Europe or the Med KNOWS this base is close to a punishment tour of duty. All during the 60s they had the highest per capita alcohol consummtion due to the poor moral on base and the isolated nature of the base. that is my story an I' sticking to it.
The turks screwed us...big time.
Too damn little, too damn late!!
They are one of the big reasons for all the insurgency in Iraq since the end of the war.
That is pure B.S. Your tour is what you make of it. I guess beautiful coasts, beautiful women and Roman/Cristian religion isn't your bag.
How many gilions of $$$$ is bribe-money, I mean, aid did we have to cough up for this??
Yeah but remember we're training a new bunch in Turkey and it's all about the long haul. Ain't it amazing tho what the sound of American money will loosen up?
Right. All those Turk insurgents, running everywhere. Oh wait, Those would be Iranian and Syrians.....Duh.
The Turks will always be our friend and ally. Glad to see this finally through the hoops. Congrats to the old jmat crowd.
Ataturk gave the Turkish military the ability to "coup" when radical islam got out of hand. I believe the military "coup" option stands at 7. Impress me with your knowledge......
'Bout time bump
His point is that the 4th ID was supposed to go through Turkey and take care of the northern portions of Iraq, like Mosul and Fallujah, while the 3ID and Marines were handling the south from Kuwait.
IF the plans had worked with the Turkish involvement, then you would have seen US troops striking towards Baghdad from different directions, causing a more fluid battlefield and potentially laying waste to the 10+ divisions of Republican Guard hanging around Fallujah, that were skipped by in our rush from the south to Baghdad.
The details of the agreement were not released.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.
Only two years too late.
Yes, I know FRiend. The Turks believed, perhaps rightly so, that the Kurds would gain an anonymous country in Northern Iraq, if the US were to blow through southern Turkiye on their way to Bagdad. I don't agree with the Turks decision, but I understand where they were coming from. The Turks have been fighting the kurds independence war for a long, long time....
Thanks for the ping.
Never too late and evidently is wanted and needed.
If it helps to save you from the infidel headhunters you would probably consider it priceless.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.