German minister to personally visit Turkey’s Incirlik base
German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen has announced plans for a personal visit to Turkey’s Incirlik air base after Ankara did not permit a trip by a German political delegation planned for next month.
Von der Leyen on Sunday slammed Turkey’s decision to bar Germany's state secretary for defense, Ralf Brauksiepe, and some lawmakers from making the trip to Incirlik in southern Turkey, saying she will personally go there to talk to German soldiers stationed in the camp to fight against Daesh Takfiri terrorists.
“I have never experienced anything like this. It goes without saying that the leadership of the Defense Ministry should be able to visit German soldiers in the field,” she said, adding that she would also use her visit “to explain to Turkey what it means to have a military under parliamentary control.”
“That is why I will be travelling to Incirlik in the coming days to discuss the situation on the ground with our soldiers,” Von der Leyen noted.
The German minister criticized Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu for his recent statement which called the planned visit by German lawmakers in July as “inappropriate.”
“These are the same members of parliament who raised their hands for the Patriot mission of the German military to protect Turkey from Syrian missiles,” she said, referring to a NATO decision for the three-year deployment of anti-missile systems in southern Turkey. The deployment ended last year.
Germany increased its contribution to the so-called coalition attacks against Daesh in Iraq and Syria when in December it sent Tornado surveillance jets and tanker aircraft to Incirlik.
Turkey’s denial of visit to the German delegation came after the German parliament decided this month to recognize the killing of Armenians by the Ottomans in the World War I as genocide.
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