Relations between Ankara and Washington have grown so fraught during recent months that the Pentagon should prepare alternatives to a key Turkish air base for regional operations, a former U.S. ambassador to Turkey said Tuesday.
U.S. forces have operated out of Incirlik Air Base since the 1950s, but growing distrust between the NATO allies — from U.S. backing of Kurdish militias in Iraq to its refusal to extradite U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen — has put that military relationship at risk, according to former U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Eric Edelman…
“In the aftermath of the coup, there were several attempts to impress upon the United States that Incirlik could be cut off at any time” to American forces, said Mr. Edelman, now a senior adviser at the Washington-based Foundation for the Defense of Democracies...
“We need to be prepared now for the possibility that we might lose access to Incirlik or that we may choose to leave at some point,” Mr. Edelman said during an FDD-sponsored symposium on the state of U.S.-Turkish relations on Tuesday.
“I would not put that on the table [just] yet, but we do need to be prepared for it,” he added.