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Turkey could shut down its Incirlik airbase that hosts US nuclear warheads in response to threats of US sanctions, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned.

"If it is necessary for us to take such a step, of course, we have the authority... We will close down Incirlik if necessary," Erdogan said on A Haber TV on Sunday.

US senators backed legislation last week to impose sanctions on Turkey over the purchase of the Russian S-400 missile defence system earlier this year and its recent military operation in northern Syria.

Incirlik is a key airbase used by the Turkish Air Force located outside the city of Adana, about 150km from the Syrian border. Since November 2011, the US air force has flown drones from the base and has used it to carry out air raids against the ISIL (ISIS) armed group.

The United States stores nuclear weapons at Incirlik as part of the legacy of the Cold War.

Turkey can also close down the Kurecik radar base if necessary, he added. Kurecik, in eastern Turkey, is a key NATO base.

"If they are threatening us with the implementation of these sanctions, of course, we will be retaliating," he said.

Speaking about a separate resolution passed in the US Senate on Friday recognising the mass killings of Armenians at the end of the first world war as "genocide", Erdogan said the bill was "completely political".

He suggested Turkey may respond with parliamentary resolutions recognising the killings of Indigenous Americans in past centuries as genocide.

The US Senate votes, which were immediately condemned by Turkey, were seen as the latest move to push US President Donald Trump to take a harder line against Ankara.

The Trump administration has so far not imposed sanctions despite the president in 2017 signing a sanctions law that mandates financial penalties for countries that do business with Russia's military.

Amid already strained bilateral ties, Washington suspended Ankara from the US F-35 stealth fighter jet programme, in which it was a producer and buyer, to penalise it for buying the Russian missile system.

Speaking at a conference in Qatar on Saturday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Turkey would not cancel its deal with Russia over the S-400s "whatever the consequences".

Source:https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/12/turkey-close-incirlik-air-base-face-threats-erdogan-191216063638537.html

I see nothing wrong in doing 'military' business with another country... Turkey is a sovereign country.

dawnomike:
I see nothing wrong in doing 'military' business with another country... Turkey is a sovereign country.

Air defence is crucial to a country's military and America knows the S-400 performance eclipses its own Patriot and THAAD that is why many countries are eyeing the S-400. All these threats is just to save the market value of the already disgraced US patriot and THAAD, remember how the Houthis flew their kamikaze drones and missiles over Saudi air space and none was detected on radar let alone shooting them down.

dermmy:
Air defence is crucial to a country's military and America knows the S-400 performance eclipses its own Patriot and THAAD that is why many countries are eyeing the S-400. All these threats is just to save the market value of the already disgraced US patriot and THAAD, remember how the Houthis flew their kamikaze drones and missiles over Saudi air space and none was detected on radar let alone shooting them down.

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They could just nationalised it

The US placed those nuclear warheads in Turkey during the Cuba missile crisis of 1962, this was done in response to the Soviet nukes mounted in Havana. Even after the Soviets pulled their weapons out of Cuba the US who innitialy took theirs away from Turkey stylishly brought them back after the collapse of the USSR. It is wrong to place a sovereign nation under sanction just because they decide to purchase suitable weapons to defend herself. The Americans are loosing alliances and the Russians are gaining more.

mysticwarrior:
The US placed those nuclear warheads in Turkey during the Cuba missile crisis of 1962, this was done in response to the Soviet nukes mounted in Havana. Even after the Soviets pulled their weapons out of Cuba the US who innitialy took theirs away from Turkey stylishly brought them back after the collapse of the USSR. It is wrong to place a sovereign nation under sanction just because they decide to purchase suitable weapons to defend herself. The Americans are loosing alliances and the Russians are gaining more.

The Weapons were placed before the crisis... infact it’s one of the reason why USSR wanted Cuba too... world politics is filled cunningness and intrigue.. by the way those are not needed these days ..