Incirlik Air Base

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Incirlik Air Force Base
İncirlik Hava Üssü
Incirlik Air Base overhead 1987.jpg
Characteristics
ICAO code LTAG
IATA code UAB
Coordinates

37 ° 0 '8 "  N , 35 ° 25' 33"  E Coordinates: 37 ° 0 '8 "  N , 35 ° 25' 33"  E
Height above MSL 73 m (240  ft )
Transport links
Distance from the city center 12 km east of Adana
Basic data
opening 1955
Start-and runway
05/23 3048 m × 45 m concrete

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The Incirlik Air Base ( Turkish İncirlik Hava üssü , English Incirlik Air Base , shortly Incirlik AB ) is a military base at İncirlik near Adana in southern Turkey . The owners are the Turkish Air Force . However, the largest user since its establishment has been the United States Air Force , which set up its most important hub for supplying the US armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan here after September 11, 2001 . The Bundeswehr has also been using the base as part of Operation Inherent Resolve since January 2016 . It has a runway in alignment 05/23 with a length of 3,048 meters.

history

The construction was decided at the Second Cairo Conference in December 1943 and concerned a piece of land that the Ottoman Empire had taken over after the massacres in the course of the Armenian genocide from 1915 through expropriations of the Armenian ethnic group . In the spring of 1951, Turkish and American soldiers began construction work on the new base, which was originally intended as a training site; a 10,000 foot (3,048 meter) long runway was completed in November 1954, on December 6, 1954, the Turkish and US armed forces agreed to jointly use the base, which was named Adana Air Base on February 21, 1955 and on the part of the USA belonged to the United States Air Forces in Europe from this point in time . The first American unit on the airfield was the 7216th Air Base Squadron .

In the 1950s, the purpose of the air force base had changed compared to the first decision in 1943: It was now to serve as an alternative base for long-range bomber missions and to support all US Air Force activities in southern Turkey. In October 1955, one of about 50 kilometers southeast, Mediterranean port was Yumurtalık coming fuel - pipeline put into operation. The USAF changed the name of the military airfield to Incirlik Air Base on February 28, 1958 . During the Lebanon crisis in the summer of 1958, up to 150 USAF aircraft were stationed in Incirlik, including B-57 , RB-66 / WB-66 , F-86D , F-100 and RF-101 . After the crisis, the F-100 were the base's most frequent guest, being replaced by the F-4 , F-15 and F-16 in later years .

Reconnaissance missions and restriction of use

During the Cold War , the Incirlik air force base also served as a starting point for espionage flights deep into Soviet territory. U-2 - reconnaissance aircraft were located for this purpose from time to time in Incirlik. The overflights continued until the pilot Francis Gary Powers was shot down on May 1, 1960 on the flight from Peschawar ( Pakistan ) to Bodø ( Norway ) over the Soviet Union . In 1962 and 1963, medium-range missiles of the Jupiter type were briefly stationed here.

After the USA imposed an arms embargo on Turkey in 1975 because of the Cyprus conflict , the latter in return prohibited the continued use of the US bases in their own country. From now on, only NATO missions were allowed in Incirlik until the two states finally reached a new user agreement in March 1980 and the US Air Force was able to resume its original activities.

Transport base

Since the middle of 1990, the Incirlik Air Force Base has been an important base for the US Air Force for its operations; in Iraq initially with Operation Desert Shield , then from January 1997 to monitor the northern no-fly zone ( Operation Northern Watch ). When the war in Afghanistan was also supported from here from October 2001 , the throughput of the base increased by six times compared to normal operations. Tank planes ( KC-135 Stratotanker ) also took off here . Only after advanced airfields were established in Afghanistan and Uzbekistan in 2002 did flight movements decrease again. With the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom in March 2003, support operations increased again.

On June 1, 2005, the US Air Force relocated its hub for supplying the armed forces in Southwest Asia from the Rhein-Main Air Base in Germany to the Incirlik air force base. Since then, transport planes such as the McDonnell Douglas C-17 have been commuting between the base and home USA and delivering consumables, ammunition and spare parts, which are then transported to the areas of operation.

From 2002 to 2008 the airfield was also used for stopovers during prisoner transports of the CIA ( extraordinary rendition ) . 2011 revealed Wikileaks a secret telegram from the US Embassy in Ankara from 2006, that Turkey from 2002 until February 2006 gave permission to the effect was the US, the Incirlik Air Base as Auftankstopp for prisoner transport operations of Operation Fundamental Justice to use. Turkey had always denied this before.

In order to ensure the smooth handling of US flights, the 39th Air Base Wing  (squadron) is  stationed at the airfield under the leadership of a Colonel - Michael H. Manion since July 2016 - who is responsible for the 1,500 US soldiers. The squadron is divided into the 39th Medical Group , the 39th Mission Support Group and the 39th Maintenance Group . The 728th Air Mobility Squadron is also responsible for air transport . According to our own information, 70% of the air handling for the troops stationed in Afghanistan (Operations ISAF (2001-2014), Resolute Support (since 2015)) takes place during this season .

Syrian civil war

Since July 23, 2015, Turkey has allowed the US to use the air force base to bomb IS positions in Syria as part of Operation Inherent Resolve , whereupon the US released six F-16 Fighting Falcon and fighter jets from Aviano Air Base in Italy 300 soldiers moved to Incirlik. In September 2015, the US began attacks from Incirlik and Diyarbakir bases . The operations are subordinate to the United States European Command under the leadership of General Curtis M. Scaparrotti .

German engagement

The German Air Force participates with Panavia Tornado - reconnaissance and a tanker aircraft of the type Airbus A310 MRTT . The mandate was granted by the German Bundestag on December 4, 2015, was initially limited to December 31, 2016 and was extended, but relocated completely to Jordan by October 2017 . The personnel limit in Incirlik was 1,200 soldiers, led by a contingent leader with the rank of brigadier general or colonel . On January 5, 2016, the first four tornadoes moved from the Schleswig-Jagel military airfield to Incirlik. In order to facilitate the use of German fighter planes, investments of around 65 million euros were planned, which will focus on a separate German flight area (10 million euros), own accommodation (15 million euros), a care building (4.5 million euros) and a own command post (34 million euros). Like all German foreign contingents, the mission is managed by the operational command in Potsdam ; the reconnaissance results are transmitted directly to the Combined Air and Space Operations Center (CAOC) in Al Udeid , Qatar , where they are combined with the other reconnaissance results. Eight German soldiers are stationed in Al Udeid for this purpose. After it became known that, due to the personnel situation after the coup, the Turkish armed forces were no longer able to adequately secure the base against attacks with infrared-guided missiles, the operational command on August 1, 2016 ordered that the base only with Aircraft that could protect themselves against missile attacks could be flown to.

On June 2, 2016, the German Bundestag described the massacres of the Ottoman Empire against the Armenians in 1915 and 1916 as genocide , which Turkey threatened with consequences. The Parliamentary State Secretary Ralf Brauksiepe was in June and July 2016, the visit of the quota in Incirlik by Turkish government prohibited and generally every visit of members of parliament. An intervention by the Federal Defense Minister , Ursula von der Leyen , in early July did nothing to change this ban. Coordinators of the Defense Committee wanted despite the ban from 15 to 17 September 2016: fly to Incirlik (according to other sources, "the beginning of October"). As part of the ban on visiting, politicians from the opposition parties in particular discussed the possibility of completely withdrawing the German soldiers from the base. At the beginning of September 2016, however, it became known that the Bundeswehr wanted to invest 58 million euros. On October 4, 2016, seven MPs from all parliamentary groups set out on a three-day trip to Turkey to visit the Incirlik Air Force Base.

In view of the deterioration in German-Turkish relations and a failed mediation attempt at the beginning of June 2017 between German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel and his Turkish counterpart Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu , Gabriel stated that he saw no other option than to relocate the Bundeswehr soldiers to another location outside Turkey. The Chosen Muwaffaq Salti Air Base of the Jordanian air forces in al-Azraq . The tanker had been stationed in Jordan since July 9, 2017, and the tornadoes were flown back to Germany until July 31, 2017, before being relocated to Jordan in October.

Coup attempt in Turkey in 2016

The base commander, Tuğgeneral Bekir Ercan Van , was arrested in the course of the attempted coup in Turkey in 2016 because he was said to have known about the plans. During the coup attempt, the base was cordoned off and flight operations - including German aircraft - ceased from July 16 to 18, 2016, as Turkey had reacted to the Turkish Air Force's involvement in the attempt by blocking the airspace around various airports. The power supply was also partially interrupted during the coup.

Ownership

In 2010, three Armenians from Turkey now living in the US sought compensation for their land and property confiscated by the Ottoman-Turkish government during the Armenian genocide ; In total, reparations were requested for 0.49 km² of land in the Adana region, on which the Incirlik air force base is also located. The US Court of Justice accepted the case and gave Turkey 21 days to respond to the lawsuit. The defending banks in Turkey asked the US court to extend the deadline for responding to September 2011. The US court accepted the extension, but the lawsuit failed at the end of April 2013.

Nuclear weapons

As part of the nuclear participation and the use of the base by the US armed forces , up to 90 nuclear weapons of the B61 type with an explosive force of 0.3 to 170  kT are stored at the Incirlik air force base .

Incidents

Web links

Commons : Incirlik Air Base  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Armenians Sue Turkey Claiming US Air Base Land . huffingtonpost.com, December 23, 2010 (English)
  2. ↑ a b US court requests Turkey's defense in lawsuit filed by Armenian-Americans . hurriyetdailynews.com, July 5, 2010 (English)
  3. ↑ a b ABD'den, 'Ermeniler İncirlik'i istiyor' notası! . sabah.com.tr, from September 2, 2011 (Turkish)
  4. ↑ a b c d Incirlik Air Base History. In: Incirlik.af.mil. Retrieved August 5, 2016 .
  5. ↑ How Turkey Helped the CIA. In: ORF . January 17, 2011, accessed October 18, 2014 .
  6. ^ Colonel Michael H. Manion. In: Incirlik.af.mil. Archived from the original on August 5, 2016 ; accessed on August 5, 2016 .
  7. ↑ 39th Air Base Wing Mission. In: Incirlik.af.mil. Retrieved August 5, 2016 .
  8. ↑ Fact Sheets. In: Incirlik.af.mil. Retrieved August 5, 2016 .
  9. ↑ 728th Air Mobility Squadron. In: Incirlik.af.mil. Retrieved August 5, 2016 .
  10. ↑ Turkey allows the USA to use Incirlik in the anti-IS fight ( memento from March 25, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) . zeit.de/dpa, accessed on November 13, 2015
  11. ↑ USA sends F-16 fighter jets to Incirlik , welt.de from August 9, 2015 , accessed on November 13, 2015
  12. ^ Air Force staging aircraft, personnel at Turkish base in Diyarbakir. In: Stripes.com. September 28, 2015, accessed August 5, 2016 .
  13. ↑ bundeswehr.de: General information about the operations. Retrieved October 6, 2017 .
  14. ↑ The German deployment Counter DAESH in Syria / Iraq as part of Operation Inherent Resolve. In: Luftwaffe.de. Retrieved August 1, 2016 .
  15. ↑ Tornadoes relocate to Incirlik. In: Luftwaffe.de. January 5, 2016, accessed August 1, 2016 .
  16. ↑ Turkey: Bundeswehr plans longer tornado deployment . In: The time . April 25, 2016, ISSN  0044-2070 ( zeit.de ).
  17. ^ The CAOC - control center of the operation over Syria. In: Bundeswehr.de. February 16, 2016, accessed August 1, 2016 .
  18. ↑ Bundeswehr strengthens security measures in Incirlik. In: tagesschau.de. Retrieved August 5, 2016 .
  19. ^ Matthias Gebauer: After a coup attempt: Bundeswehr increases protection for soldiers in Turkey. Spiegel Online, Hamburg, August 2, 2016, accessed on August 2, 2016 .
  20. ^ Incirlik: Turkey refuses State Secretary to visit the Bundeswehr . In: The time . June 22, 2016, ISSN  0044-2070 ( zeit.de ).
  21. ↑ Turkey forbids visits by the German State Secretary. In: Welt Online. Retrieved June 22, 2016 .
  22. ↑ Conflict with Ankara: Bundeswehr examines withdrawal from Incirlik. Stuttgarter Zeitung, accessed on August 5, 2016 .
  23. ↑ Turkey: MPs want to go to Incirlik despite being banned from visiting . In: The time . July 7, 2016, ISSN  0044-2070 ( zeit.de ).
  24. ^ NDR: Incirlik dispute: End the Bundeswehr mandate? In: www.ndr.de. Retrieved August 5, 2016 .
  25. ↑ Marcus Pindur: "The Bundeswehr is investing in Incirlik" Deutschlandfunk from September 6, 2016
  26. ↑ Incirlik Air Force Base: MPs travel to German soldiers in Turkey for the first time on Spiegel Online, October 4, 2016.
  27. ↑ Incirlik dispute with Turkey: cancellation with announcement at tagesschau.de, June 5, 2017 (accessed June 5, 2017)
  28. ↑ Use of the Bundeswehr in the fight against "IS" via Syria / Iraq and at sea ( Memento from October 8, 2017 in the web archive archive.today )
  29. ↑ FETÖ'cü komutan Tuğgeneral Bekir Ercan Van hakkında kuryelik soruşturması başlatıldı | Gündem Haberleri. Retrieved August 1, 2016 (Turkish).
  30. ↑ Thomas Wiegold: After the coup: Bundeswehr resumed flight operations in Incirlik: eyes straight ahead. In: augengeradeaus.net. July 18, 2016, accessed August 5, 2016 .
  31. ↑ Greenpeace: Nuclear Weapons in Europe ( Memento of January 31, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 814 kB) , accessed: March 11, 2009
  32. ↑ Natural Resources Defense Council, February 2005: US Nuclear Weapons in Europe (4.91 MB; PDF file) , accessed: March 11, 2009
  33. ↑ Accident report C-130H 74-2064 , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on February 7, 2020.