Europe

Home page

Europe

Turkish police block access to NATO's Incirlik air base

31 July 2016 05:50 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. All inputs and outputs to the Incirlik Air Base located in Adana have been closed, APA reports quoting Sputnik.

Turkish Minister of European Affairs Omar Chelik says that it is just a safety inspection.

"I'm in Adana ... We conducted a general inspection of security systems. No problems found"- wrote Omer Celik.

Haber Turk connects the base lock with a visit of the Head of the US Armed Forces Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford, who is going to visit Turkey on Sunday, 31 July. He plans to hold bilateral meetings in Ankara and visit US troops, who are stationed at the base of Incirlik.

Some 7,000 armed police with heavy vehicles have surrounded and blocked the Incirlik air base in Adana used by NATO forces, already restricted in the aftermath of a failed coup.

Incirlik Air Base, located in the province of Adana, is a critical NATO base in Turkey. The US maintains 50 to 90 tactical nuclear weapons at the base.