Pentagon Loses Turkish Airspace Access Crucial In Airstrikes Against Isis
Source: Guardian UK
Spencer Ackerman in New York
Saturday 16 July 2016 14.24 EDT Last modified on Saturday 16 July 2016 15.26 EDT
The coup attempt in Turkey has yielded its first tangible disruption to the war against Islamic State, as the Pentagon has temporarily lost access to the Turkish airfield it uses as its primary staging ground for its air campaign in Syria and Iraq.
Although the Pentagon press secretary, Peter Cook, on Saturday portrayed the interruption as surmountable, there was no indication as to when the US would regain access to the Incirlik airbase in south-eastern Turkey, as a defiant Turkish elected government has begun arresting thousands of military officers and soldiers in reprisal for the failed coup.
Turkish airspace, including that over the Incirlik airbase, was closed to military aircraft some of which flew above Ankara during the attempted takeover on Friday night.
US officials are working with the Turks to resume air operations there as soon as possible, Cook said in a statement, reversing an assurance on Friday that the then unfolding coup would not immediately affect the Isis campaign.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/16/isis-airstrike-turkey-airspace-us-air-force
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)ISIS's #1 benefactor in the Middle East strikes again.
Baclava
(12,047 posts)Tensions rise in U.S.-Turkish relations as Erdogan targets Fethullah Gülen, a cleric who lives in Pennsylvania.
Turkish officials have placed blame on members of the Gülen movement, a religious and social group that the government has accused in the past of endeavoring to establish a parallel state inside of Turkey.
This presents a potential rift between Ankara and Washington, as Fethullah Gülen, the Sunni cleric who heads the group, has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999.
Erdogan, whose alliance with the Gülen movement ruptured in 2013, demanded on Saturday that Washington hand over the cleric.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/turkey-gulen-coup_us_578a6e7ee4b03fc3ee512102
6chars
(3,967 posts)geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)karynnj
(59,504 posts)previous accusations did not convince the US to hand him over. The question is whether Erdogan has any proof that goes up to Gulen.
Odd how this sounds almost like Tudor England where various royals were suspect because they had people loyal to them.
still_one
(92,219 posts)it looks like they just keep making more