Saturday, July 16, 2016

Here It Comes


The Turkish government has closed the airspace around [US Incirlik Air Base, which stores US tactical nuclear weapons] following the coup attempt, putting a temporary halt to coalition airstrikes against Islamic State from the country, according U.S. and Turkish officials.

The airspace restrictions around Incirlik Air Base were imposed “to prevent rogue aircrafts from targeting civilians and government buildings,” a senior Turkish official said, adding that the government had suspicions that pilots taking part in the coup used Incirlik to refuel their aircraft.

[...]

Military personnel are also being asked not to leave the base, where about 1,700 U.S. service members are stationed. Turkey originally closed access to and from the base, although those restrictions have been lifted. U.S. Service members are now being ordered to remain on base to comply with State Department advice for Americans to shelter in place.

The outside power to Incirlik remained shut down after being cut earlier Saturday, officials said, though backup power generators were supplying power to the base.

  Wall Street Journal
Erdoğan wants the US to extradite Fethullah Gülen, who suggests the government may have staged the coup to get at him, and John Kerry says if Turkey gives the US sufficient information to implicate Gülen, we'll "look a it and make judgments about it appropriately."
Cavusoglu [Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Turkey's Minister of Foreign Affairs] said the military now needed to be "cleansed" of Gulenist influence.

"Once this cleansing is finished our military will be stronger, our soldiers will be stronger, providing better support and coordination to NATO," he said.

He said soldiers at the Incirlik air base in southern Turkey, used by the U.S. military to conduct air strikes against Islamic State militants in neighboring Syria, had been involved in the coup attempt and that arrests had been made.

  Reuters
The cleansing. Perhaps is Gülen right.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

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