Americas

Americas

US Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried: Turkey can close Incirlik air base

16 March 2007 10:35 (UTC +04:00)

The senior State Department official, told a hearing of a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Europe that Turkish officials have informed the US that approval of the resolution could lead to a shutdown of the base or a restriction on US overflight privileges granted by Turkey. He also said the US has been informed that Ankara would respond with "extreme emotion" if the Armenian resolution were approved.
He added the US fear was that â€œpassage of any such resolution would close minds and harden hearts.â€?
At the same time, Daniel Fried regarded the events happened in the Ottoman Empire in 1915 as massacre.
Robert Wexler, Chairman of the Europe Subcommittee and the US-Turkey Friendship group also underlined that anti-American mood increased in Turkey and if genocide draft is adopted US adversaries will increase.
Joseph Ralston, the US special envoy for countering the PKK and Daniel Fata, Pentagon representative said that cold relations with Turkey will influence on US operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. /APA/