US, Turkey Still Don't Agree On Expanded Access To İncirlik

Following US Vice President Joe Biden's visit to Turkey, a senior US administration official has said that Turkey and the US are continuing discussions of the US-led coalition forces' use of Turkish facilities for their aircraft and other assets.

Biden left Turkey on Sunday, after meeting with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu.

A senior US administration official briefed journalists who had been following Biden's trip to Turkey while on the way back to Washington, D.C.

According to a transcript sent by the White House, the administration official was asked whether the US has given up on the issue of receiving expanded access to İncirlik Air Base, which is in close proximity to ISIL targets both inside Syria and Iraq.

“I think, as we continue to have this high-level conversation about how we can act together to combat ISIL in both Iraq and Syria, to the degree our militaries are working together, we continue to have conversations about the ability of coalition aircraft and other assets to be able to use Turkish facilities. But I think the Turks have been clear that they want to get us all on the same page first before they open up -- what they would call open up their platforms -- a little bit more,” the administration official said.

The official also added that they are making “very good progress” in that area that and “hopefully,” in the end, Turkey and the US will be in agreement, and then the coalition forces will have greater access in Turkey. “But, of course, that will be up to the Turks,” the official said.

The senior US administration official also mentioned the US airdropping weapons and aid to the Democratic Union Party (PYD), an offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US and the European Union.

Turkish officials had previously expressed their displeasure with the US air-dropping aid to the PYD. The US official said that at that time the US told Turkey, “If you're not crazy about the PYD, and we get that, let's figure out a way to allow reinforcements and resupply from Iraqi-Kurdish peshmerga, transiting through Turkey, to resupply fighters against ISIL.”

The official added: “It's a win-win. Because it continues to support the fighters fighting ISIL, and it's a win because it balances out some of the concerns you're worried about on the PYD side of the equation. That was the deal.”

On Oct. 20, the Financial Times ran a story about these developments, saying that Turkey had yielded to US pressure and opened its territory for Kurdish peshmerga to relieve the besieged Syrian town of Kobani “in a striking U-turn.”

(Cihan/Today's Zaman)