Incirlik air base
© AP Photo
Incirlik residents and local politicians have called on Ankara, demanding the expulsion of American troops from Incirlik Air Base and that the base be handed over to the Turkish military. Speaking to Sputnik, Turkish civilians explained why they're protesting against the US military presence in their country.

"American troops should leave Incirlik Air Base!" residents of the neighborhood of the same name in the Yuregir district of the Turkish city of Adana say, amid the escalation of tensions between Ankara and Washington.

Sputnik reached out to the enraged civilians, asking them to explain their discontent.

"The US has unleashed a war on Turkey, using the arrest of the pastor as a pretext," Mehmet Kaya, a town-dweller, said, referring to the ongoing diplomatic row over the fate of American Evangelical missionary Andrew Brunson, indicted in Turkey on charges of links with Fethullah Gulen's banned movement. "The US was behind the coup attempt on July 15 [2016]. They do not want other countries to develop; their only goal is to put other states in a position of dependence upon Washington. Turkey's decision to buy the S-400 (missiles) from Russia has thrown the US off balance, as they want to control the whole world."

According to Kaya, the US sows discord and destruction wherever it goes: "[Washington] entered Syria, Iraq, Tunisia and Libya, and these territories have been reduced to ruins," the Turkish citizen said. "In Syria, people used to live in peace and unity, but when the US came, massacres began, brother turned on brother, and chaos erupted."

Another Sputnik interviewee, Abuzer Tuncer, suggested that US President Donald Trump "had gone mad" when he had chosen Turkey as his target.

"The US launched a war against Turkey and the entire world economy. They do not want Turkey to develop and prosper. In fact, they are our main enemy. The US does not give us weapons that we bought from them for our own money, but at the same time supply weapons to our enemy - the Kurdish self-defense units. Moreover, they oppose the purchase of S-400 (missiles) from Russia," Tuncer said, citing the scandal over Turkey's suspended procurement of the F-35 stealth fighters from the US, which was restricted by American lawmakers because of the Turkish-Russian S-400 deal.

According to Mehmet Erdem, an Adana resident, there is a necessity to form a united front of activists, political parties and movements of the region to close the Incirlik base.

Turkish citizens Mehmet Celik and Neziyet Sermin recalled that the base had become the main foothold of coup plotters in July 2016.

During the attempted coup of July 15, 2016, an aerial tanker carrying the fuel for the F-16s used by the military conspirers got off the ground at Incirlik Air Base. It was the first time, when the base had become the bone of contention between Ankara and Washington and triggered massive protests in the region.