© AP photo/Emrah Gurel
Incirlik Airbase, the hotbed of controversy and speculation
Incirlik Airbase, the hotbed of controversy and speculation
On Monday, the Stimson Center, a Washington DC-based nonprofit think tank, released a report, urging policymakers in the US to remove B61 nuclear bombs from Europe and strengthen conventional forces instead.
Next day, on August 16th, Russian media outlet Izvestia cited Igor Morozov, a member of the Russia's Federation Council (upper chamber of Russian parliament), former member of parliamentary committee on international affairs, saying: "It just remains to come to an agreement with Erdogan that we get the NATO base Incirlik as [our] primary airbase... You'll see, the next base will be Incirlik." This information has been published in The Times today, on August 20th.
Later, on Thursday, August 18th, Sputnik reported information initially published by Brussels-based EurActiv news outlet saying that the US forces have started an operation of relocation of its nuclear weapons from Incirlik to Deveselu base in Romania.
In about an hour since the initial report on Sputnik, Romanian Foreign Ministry officially denied that the country is going to host the US nuclear weapons in a letter to Russian RIA Novosti news agency. Later that day Sputnik attempted to contact the US Department of Defense, but its spokesman Adam Stump declined to either confirm or deny the information.
Yesterday, on August 19th, Foreign Policy published an article, named "No, the the U.S. Is Not Moving Its Nukes From Turkey to Romania." The article quotes a nuclear weapons expert Jeffrey Lewis, calling the information unlikely. According to Lewis, Romania lacks the required infrastructure needed to store the weapons safely. Unfortunately, Foreign Policy did not provide any official confirmation or denial for the message.
On August 20th, World Bulletin published an article citing Amy Woolf, a researcher for nuclear weapons policy for the U.S. Congressional Research Service. According to Woolf, the nuclear weapons at Incirlik cannot be used, because they required a massive bomber that could drop them. Also on August 20th, the Prime Minister of Turkey Binali Yildirim said that Russia could possibly use country's southern Incirlik Air Base if it becomes necessary. He also added that up to this point, Russia had no need for this base.
What's really going on at Incirlik?
Comment: Confusing, eh? These reports point in several directions, the best way to diffuse any arguable recourse. Either one hand is not knowing what the other multiple hands are doing, or all hands are being played against each other and only one of these will sift out. Bombs stay? Or bombs away?
See also: Are US nukes being transported from Incirlik to Deveselu to attack Moscow, and why so many conflicting reports?