ANKARA, Dec 17 (NNN-ANADOLU) – Turkey may close two military bases where U.S. soldiers are stationed, if “necessary,” Turkish President, Recep Erdogan, said.
“We will hold discussions with all our delegations, and if necessary, we may close the Incirlik (air base in southern Adana province) and Kurecik (radar station in eastern Malatya province) bases,” the Turkish president said in a televised interview.
“We may need to make some decisions, too,” he said, elaborating a recent U.S. resolution passed by the Senate that recognised the killings of Armenians as “genocide” in 1915.
The resolution was “completely political,” he said, adding, “it is very important for both sides that the U.S. does not take irreparable steps in our relations.”
U.S. Senate on Thursday unanimously passed a resolution that formally recognises the Ottoman Empire’s killings of the Armenian people as “genocide.”
The resolution was passed in the House of Representatives in late Oct, but had been blocked by Republican Senators several times, at the request of the White House, which feared that its passage would infuriate Turkey.
Incirlik air base is a key military compound for the U.S. Kurecik Radar Station is a military installation, established in 2012, for use by NATO as an early-warning radar.– NNN-ANADOLU
