Now that Washington and Ankara are at odds over military operations in northern Syria, Turkey is questioning why it continues to allow the U.S. to use its strategically important Incirlik air base in the fight against the Islamic State.
The veiled threat comes as Turkish military forces have been supporting Syrian rebels in the north to liberate the Syrian town of al-Bab from Islamic State control.
The Turkish operation dubbed “Euphrates Shield” is ostensibly intended to clear “terrorists” from the area of Syria that borders Turkey. But the U.S. does not support the offensive because it also appears aimed at the Syrian Kurdish militia, the People’s Protection Units, or YPG.
The U.S. is supporting the Kurds, including some YPG fighters, as part of the loose coalition of militias that are slowly advancing on Raqqa, the putative Islamic State capital, and consequently has been withholding air support for the Turkish-backed operation.
The Kurds are U.S. allies, but Turkey considers YPG to be a terrorist group, linked to outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, which has been at war with Turkey for decades.
The U.S. decision to deny air support for the al-Bab operation has prompted angry public statements by Turkish officials questioning the American military’s continued access to the vital Incirlik air base, located just to the west of the Syrian border.
The Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu Wednesday quoted Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu as saying, “Our people ask, ‘why are they using the Incirlik Airbase? What purpose are you serving if you do not provide aerial support against DAESH [the Islamic State] in the most sensitive operation for us?'”
At the Pentagon, a U.S. military spokesman who was briefing from Baghdad struggled to explain the U.S. policy, noting that American warplanes recently flew over Turkish positions in northern Syria in a “show of force,” but did not drop any bombs.
“There has been a lot of discussion at very high levels. I think everyone has an interest in the defeat of Daesh [the Islamic State],” said Col. John Dorrian.
“I don’t have the details to offer you about what the way forward will be in al-Bab. But I do know there has been some good discussion on that, and Turkey is aware of that discussion.”
Incirlik has played a vital role in the anti-Islamic State air campaign, not just for American planes, but also for aircraft from other coalition nations. It provides a base where bombers can reach their targets with a relatively short flight that doesn’t require aerial refueling.
“It’s absolutely invaluable and the capabilities it has made available for the coalition,” Dorrian said. “The entire world has been made safer by the operations that have been conducted there.”
In a televised speech Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the liberation of al-Bab should be completed soon, and indicated that the Syrian town of Manbij, about 30 miles east of al-Bab, may be the next target of Turkish-backed forces.
