Turkey agrees US base expansion [View All]

After months of delay, Turkey's Cabinet has approved a long-standing US request to have increased access to a strategic air base for flying into Iraq and Afghanistan. The decision on Monday was another step toward improving relations with Washington that were strained when Turkey refused to allow US troops to stage an invasion of Iraq from Turkish territory in March 2003.

A Cabinet decree - allowing the US to fly in more cargo planes into the southern Incirlik Air Base for one year beginning in June - was sent to President Ahmet Necdet Sezer for approval, the semiofficial Anatolia news agency said.
The details of the agreement were not released. Washington's request, which was relayed to Turkey in June, asked permission to establish a logistics hub at Incirlik.

US Ambassador Eric Edelman and Turkish Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul are scheduled to hold a joint news conference on the deal Tuesday. According to private NTV television, Turkey also accepted a Pentagon request for blanket clearance for all cargo flights, backing off an earlier stance that each flight should get separate permission before landing and takeoff. US diplomats had expressed unease about Turkey's delay and its insistence on requiring separate permission for each flight.

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