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Merkel: Germany will move its soldiers if Turkey refuses lawmaker visit

15 May 2017 14:40 (UTC +04:00)

Berlin may move its soldiers to another country if Ankara does not grant permission to members of the German parliament's defence committee to visit staff currently serving in a NATO mission on a Turkish air base, Chancellor Angela Merkel said, APA reported citing Reuters.

Speaking at a Monday news conference, Merkel said it was essential for lawmakers to be able to visit the more than 250 soldiers serving at Incirlik air base in Turkey, where they are involved in a NATO mission targeting the Islamic State militant group in Syria.

"We will continue to talk with Turkey, but in parallel we will have to explore other ways of fulfilling our mandate," Merkel said. "That means looking at alternatives to Incirlik, and one alternative among others is Jordan."

Earlier, a group of German lawmakers has been blocked from visiting troops stationed at Turkey's Incirlik air base, officials said on May 15, a move that could reignite a row between the NATO allies over Berlin's access to the base.

The lawmakers were denied a visit to the base as it was not deemed appropriate at this time, sources in Turkey's foreign ministry told Reuters, without elaborating. Some 250 German troops are stationed at Incirlik as part of the fight against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in neighboring Syria, according to the German armed forces.

A spokesman for the German foreign minister said it was "completely unacceptable" for Turkey to keep German lawmakers from visiting their own soldiers.

"A visit by lawmakers must be made possible," Martin Schaefer said, adding that Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel would raise the issue with colleagues from other NATO governments in Washington on May 16.

German government spokesman Stefan Seibert said Berlin would consider alternative places to station the soldiers.