The Turkish Foreign Ministry has announced Incirlik Air Base is ready for use in operations by the U.S.-lead anti-Daesh coalition.
The Foreign Ministry Spokesman Tanju Bilgic told reporters Wednesday that the Cabinet of Ministers resolution to allow the use of Turkey’s air bases by the coalition aircraft "has matured”, meaning the Incirlik base "could be used any time, whenever needed”.
The operation only concerns Daesh, and does not include air support forpro-Kurdish People’s Defense Unit’s (YPG) in Syria, Bilgic said.
Asked on the U.S. State Department Spokesman John Kirby’s remarks that the opening of bases would make U.S. support for the YPG faster and more effective, Bilgic stressed that Turkey’s agreement with the U.S. concerned the fight against Daesh.
Bilgic said: "These remarks by Kirby do not fully represent our agreement with the U.S. Our deal does not include groups that have their own agenda, such as the PYD [pro-KurdishDemocratic Union Party in Syria]. This has already been brought to the attention of U.S. authorities. In a background meeting held yesterday [Tuesday], U.S. officials clarified Kirby’s statement and the agreement we struck with the U.S. Within this context, giving air support to the YPG, as Kirby stated, is not one of the elements of our agreement with U.S.”
Turkey first declared it was opening its air bases for manned and unmanned coalition aircraft last Friday on July 24.
On Tuesday, U.S. officials said the use of air bases would "accelerate, enhance what we’re already doing", and Turkish and U.S. officials would be working in close cooperation "in terms of how we do this and how we get set up".
Turkey recently launched airstrikes against Daesh and the PKK in Syria and Iraq. On Friday night and in the early hours of Saturday, Turkish jets bombed PKK camps in northern Iraq for the first time in the last two-and-a-half years. Turkish jets again hit PKK targets inside and outside Turkey on Sunday night and on Tuesday.
The airstrikes came as Turkey was hit by violence since a suicide bomb attack by a suicide bomb attack by a suspected Daesh supporter killed 32 activists in Suruc on July 20.
(Anadolu)
