Will Russian Air Force get use of Incirlik Air Base?

Turkish Prime Minister Admits Possibility of Use of Incirlik Base by Russia
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Saturday that Russia could possibly use country's southern Incirlik Air Base if it becomes necessary.

Sputnik,

21 August, 2016

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — At the same time Yildirim added that there were no need in Moscow's use of the base, because Russia possessed facilities located in Syria that was not far from Incirlik.

"This information is not correct, but if necessary the Incirlik base could be used," Yildirim told reporters, answering a question about Moscow's alleged request for use of the base, as quoted by the Turkish Anadolu news agency.

Russia has been conducting an aerial campaign against terrorists in Syria since September 30, 2015 at President Bashar Assad's request. The majority of operations is conducted from Russian air base Hmeimim in Syria, while country's Aerospace Forces are also conducting sorties from Russia and from Iran's Hamadan base.

Incirlik military base is used by the United States and shelters combat planes of the US-led coalition launching airstrikes in Syria and Iraq against the Daesh group outlawed in many countries, including Russia.

Kremlin Presses Turkey for Access to NATO's Incirlik Air Base, Home to US Nukes

Russian officials have reached out to Ankara to request access to the American-built base as a convenient launch pad for airstrikes in the Syrian theater, but it remains to be seen whether such cooperation will roil NATO’s feathers.

Sputnik,

21 August, 2016

Russia has called on Turkey to provide access to NATO’s Incirlik Air Base, the critical launch pad for US and coalition airstrikes in Syria, in a bid to expand the country’s influence in the Middle East and to further the goal of combatting radical jihadist groups, primarily Daesh and al-Nusra, that threaten peace and stability in Syria.

The base is home to at least 50 US B-61 nuclear warheads each carrying the potential destructive capacity of 100 times the Hiroshima bomb, a reality that led to heightened concern among American officials during, and in the wake of, the failed coup attempt of the Erdogan regime.

Sitting only 65 miles from the Syrian border, defense analysts, including the former White House arms control official under Bill Clinton, have cautioned that these weapons are not safe from the Daesh terrorist organization and other hostile elements who could conceivably breach the perimeter if Americans are left unaided by Turkish police forces.

That fear likely grew more elevated as Turkey has drifted towards Russia in the wake of the coup with senior officials, including the Turkish President himself, insinuating if not outright claiming that the United States played a hand in the failed attempt to overthrow the government and with a brewing diplomatic row developing between Washington and Ankara over the State Department’s refusal to clear the extradition of Fethullah Gulen, who has been alleged to have been the mastermind of the failed coup.

The brewing situation between the United States and Russia have opened the door for the reestablishment of relations between Moscow and Ankara including increased defense and strategic cooperation in Syria.

"It just remains to come to an agreement with Erdogan that we get the NATO base Incirlik as [our] primary airbase," Senator Igor Morozov, a member of the upper house’s committee on international affairs said reports the British newspaper The Times. He explained that the development would enable the Russian air force to engage in "constant bombing" of Daesh and other jihadist groups to bring the conflict to a resolution faster.

"You’ll see, the next base will be Incirlik," he told Izvestia after the Kremlin revealed this week that its bombers had started flying out of Iran to launch attack on Syria. "This will be one more victory for Putin."

Another Senator, Viktor Ozerov, told RIA Novosti, "It’s not certain that Russia needs Incirlik, but such a decision would be seen as a real willingness on Turkey’s part to cooperate with Russia in the war against terrorism in Syria."