Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım has said the German government can “remove its troops however it wants” and the decision has “nothing to do with Turkey,” adding that German soldiers’ probable leaving of the İncirlik air base in southern Turkey would be of little consequence. Reports Hurriyet Daily News.
“There is no decision we have taken on this. They can have it their own way,” Yıldırım told reporters on June 6 at parliament.
His words followed Germany’s announcement that it will have to remove its troops and surveillance aircrafts based in the İncirlik base after Turkey repeatedly refused to allow German lawmakers to visit the base.
German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel held talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu on June 5 but he could only get Turkish consent for a visit to a base in Konya, where German troops are stationed as part of a NATO mission.
Çavuşoğlu made clear that a visit to İncirlik was impossible given the current conjuncture and Germany’s acceptance of the asylum requests of hundreds of former military personnel and diplomats in the aftermath of the July 2016 coup attempt.
Germany has around 250 troops and six Tornado surveillance aircrafts based at the Incirlik as part of the international coalition fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).