Germany insisting on Incirlik visit despite Turkey's refusal

Turkey and Germany are at odds over the visit of a group of German lawmakers to the İncirlik airbase in the southeastern Turkish province of Adana.

The Turkish foreign minister said in an earlier statement that all kinds of military delegations are allowed into the base, but no political delegation is allowed right now.

Germany stationed 240 troops, six Tornado surveillance jets and a tanker aircraft to the base last year as part of the US-led international coalition to fight against Daesh terrorists.

Though Turkey allowed German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen earlier this month it said a group of MPs led by deputy Defense Minister Ralf Brauksiepe would not be allowed to visit the base.

Some German politicians called on the government to press Turkey to allow the delegation, consisting of lawmakers from the Christian Democratic Union / the Christian Social Union (CDU) / (CSU), the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), the Left and the Greens, scheduled to visit the Incirlik base between 15 and 17 September.

Relations between Turkey and Germany took a turn for the worse in May after the German parliament passed a controversial resolution declaring the 1915 displacement of Armenians by Ottoman forces as a “genocide.”