US should seek alternatives to İncirlik Air Base in Turkey: Analyst

Duvar English

U.S. and NATO should take steps to end their dependence on İncirlik Air Base in Turkey’s southern province of Adana and seek alternatives in the light of ongoing tensions with Turkey, Chuck Wald, a retired 4-star Air Force general who served as deputy commander of the U.S. European Command in the 2000s, told Bloomberg Opinion.

“Turkey’s actions should be raising serious questions about whether U.S. and NATO forces should remain at Incirlik,” Wald said in an interview on Nov. 16.

The U.S.'s decades-long use of İncirlik Air Base is seen as not only of vital military importance, but underscores the strategic relationship between the two NATO allies. Some experts have even described İncirlik as the glue that helps bind Turkey and the U.S. together, especially in the fight against ISIS.

“Under [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan, Turkey has been a thorn in our side for the last half decade. Throughout 2014, Ankara adamantly refused to grant the U.S. permission to use Incirlik for our military operations against ISIS, which was sweeping across Syria and Iraq at an alarming pace. Eventually, after a year of prodding, the Turks begrudgingly gave in; however, we still had to contend with their sporadic demands to halt operations,” he said.

Then, two years later, Erdoğan ordered all U.S. assets grounded for several days, as he accused the U.S. of masterminding the July 2016 failed coup attempt to remove him from power, said Wald.

Apart from these issues, most recently, the Turkish government said that they would attack the YPG in Syria, “even while U.S. forces were still operating in those areas,” said Wald. “Then, when our troops were in the process of withdrawing, reports emerged that Turkish forces started firing on those positions.”

Asked where the new home of NATO and U.S. forces currently at İncirlik Air Base should be, Wald said: “A few years ago, I wrote an op-ed calling for the building of a new airfield in Iraq, specifically in territory controlled by the Kurdistan Regional Government, as part of our efforts then to defeat ISIS and drive it from the country.”

The most pressing concern for the U.S. is the relocation of the nuclear weapons at the base, according to Wald. The base, in addition to hosting military aircraft, has around 50 American B61 nuclear bombs. The new home of these nuclear weapons should be on European soil, with one option being Aviano Air Base in Italy, said Wald. “Given the growing strain of anti-Americanism in Turkey and Erdoğan’s willingness to move closer toward Russia, we urgently need to relocate those weapons…From a logistical standpoint, this shouldn’t be too difficult,” he said.

Not just Turkey’s actions regarding the issue of İncirlik, but also its acquisition of the S-400s from Russia is a sign that the country is “no longer acting in accordance with NATO values,” according to Wald.

“Incirlik aside, we’ve seen how Turkey has been actively operating against NATO interests for far too long now, buying Russian S-400s despite repeated warnings, allowing foreign fighters free passage en route to joining ISIS in Syria, etc.”

“I think that Turkey’s case should push NATO to put in place a long overdue system for handling those rare instances where a member is demonstrably no longer acting in accordance with NATO values or, worse, now presents a threat to the organization’s security interests,” he said.

The purchase of the Russian system and its subsequent delivery of the system in July has been a major source of friction between two NATO allies Turkey and the United States.

Last month the U.S. said Turkey would be spared sanctions under a 2017 law if the S-400 system is not turned on.

The issue was raised in talks in Washington last week between Erdoğan and his US counterpart Donald Trump.

Trump said afterwards that Turkey’s acquisition created “serious challenges” for Washington as he added officials would “immediately” get to work on resolving the issue.

Turkey was removed from the F-35 fighter jet program as a consequence of the purchase.

Erdoğan’s spokesman İbrahim Kalın on Nov. 15 said: “There is no question of a step backwards, Turkey will activate the S-400.”