Several US military aircraft left base in Turkey amid Erdogan threats
December 16, 2019 – «««APPLICATION for membership of the Republic of Western Armenia (the State of Armenia) in the United Nations»»»
Moscow. December 16th. INTERFAX.RU – At least five US Air Force military transport aircraft flew from the Incirlik Air Base in Turkey, which holds US nuclear weapons, over the past 24 hours, follows from monitoring data from Western aviation resources; this happened amid statements by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan about the threat of closure of the country’s military bases for the Americans.
According to Western aviation resources, in particular, three heavy military transport aircraft C-17A Globemaster, one military transport aircraft of increased payload C-5M Galaxy, and one transport aircraft of military command C-40B flew from Incirlik.
The day before, December 15, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened that Ankara was ready to close its Incirlik and Kurejik military bases for US troops if Washington imposed sanctions due to the supply of Russian S-400 air defense systems.
Earlier in December, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu also said that Ankara could consider withdrawing US troops from Incirlik airbase if Washington imposed sanctions against Turkey for the acquisition of Russian S-400s.
Incirlik airbase is located near the Turkish city of the same name. It is used by the Air Force in both the United States and Turkey.
In October, the newspaper The New York Times, citing informed sources in government, said the US authorities were considering plans to export from Turkey 50 nuclear bombs B61, which are stored at Incirlik airbase.
According to sources, the question of options for the export of nuclear tactical weapons that are under American control at Incirlik airbase was considered by representatives of the State Department and the Department of Energy, which is responsible for the safety of nuclear arsenals.
The question was raised after the start of the military operation of Turkey in northeast Syria on October 9 against Kurdish fighters supported by the United States.
According to one senior official, US nuclear weapons in Turkey are currently virtually hostage to President Erdogan. Removing bombs would mean the end of the Turkish-American alliance, and keeping them there would perpetuate nuclear vulnerability, which should have been eliminated many years ago, he noted.
According to reports, the United States has five bases abroad, which store a total of 150 tactical nuclear bombs. They are located in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium – 20 units in each country, as well as in Italy – 40 and Turkey – 50.
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