Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu on Monday said that it will continue to block a delegation of German lawmakers from visiting İncirlik air base. "At the moment, a visit to the NATO base in Konya is possible, not İncirlik," Çavusoğlu said at a joint press conference with German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel. Germany will have to pull its forces out of the base because of Turkish government restrictions on German lawmakers seeking to visit troops there, Gabriel replied.
Çavuşoglu said Ankara had no problem with Germany, which is a major trade partner, adding: "If Germany takes one step forward toward us, we will always take two steps further." But he said some facts cannot be ignored, adding that more than 400 Turkish diplomatic or official passport holders had sought asylum in Germany.
"We would not like to see members of FETÖ take shelter in friendly country Germany," he said, referring to a movement led by US-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen's network, one of the masterminds of failed coup in 2015.
Germany's foreign minister said that Turkey's decision effectively means that Berlin will have to withdraw the military deployment from the airbase
"My Turkish colleague explained to me that in the current situation, Turkey is not able to allow every visit by German parliamentarians to İncirlik - for domestic reasons," Gabriel said.
"I regret that, but Turkey must understand that for domestic political reasons, we must transfer German soldiers out of İncirlik ... In this situation, the Bundestag will ask the government to find another location for the German soldiers in İncirlik."
But he added there was not yet any decision or a concrete plan for the relocation of the German troops from İncirlik.
Shortly after he spoke, sources in Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım's office said the Turkish premier had cancelled a planned meeting with Gabriel, citing a busy work schedule.
The İncirlik air base in southern Turkey has been at the centre of a dispute between two countries since Ankara blocked a visit last month by German parliamentarians. Germany has 250 military personnel stationed at the air base flying Tornado surveillance missions over Syria and refuelling flights for partner nations.
