US, Turkey agree on use of base for troop rotation: Report

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, January 11, 2004

US, Turkey agree on use of base for troop rotation: Report

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The United States and Turkey have agreed on terms for the United States to use a large air basein Turkey for ferrying thousands of US troops and equipment into and out of Iraq over the next few months, The Washington Post reported Saturday.

A detailed accord for use of Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey was negotiated in recent weeks, ahead of the start of this month of what US military officials have described as the most complex US troops rotation since World War II, the newspaper quoted US officials as saying.

The deal reflects an improvement in US-Turkish ties that were frayed before the invasion of Iraq, when Turkey refused to allow US forces to use its territory as a staging ground.

The Incirlik base is very familiar to the US Air Force, which stationed dozens of war-planes there the decade before the Iraq war, patrolling northern Iraq to enforce a ban on flights of Iraqimilitary jets.

Since the major combat operations in Iraq last spring, US and British aircraft in those patrols have been removed.

Although the base has continued to be used in recent months by US tanker and transport aircraft, the planned troop rotation will require a surge in military activities, which prompted US and Turkish authorities to negotiate a separate agreement. Among the issues that had to ironed out was a US request for blanket approval to use Turkish airspace.

Under the Pentagon's plan for rotation, more than 100,000 US Army soldiers and Marines will move into Iraq between now and May to replace most of the 123,000 troops there.

Military officials announced earlier this week that the rotation had begun, with the first waves of troops starting to flow in both directions.

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