German opposition parties propose Bundestag to withdraw troops from Turkey’s Incirlik air base

Two opposition parties of Germany, the Greens and the Left, submitted a joint proposal to the Bundestag calling on to immediately withdraw the German soldiers from Turkey’s Incirlik air base, Deutsche Welle reports.

“The German army is the army of the parliament, and the parliamentarian must control it all the time. Thus, the Germany army must be immediately pulled out of the Incirlik air base,” stated in the proposal.

Germany’s Green Party Co-chairman Cem Ozdemir said banning the Bundestag lawmakers to visit the air base is “considered as loss of trust within the frames of NATO partners.”

“The Federal government has followed for a long time how president Erdogan turned our soldiers into foreign policy tool,” Ozdemir said. The proposal will be likely put up to voting on May 17 in the Bundestag. A number of lawmakers of the ruling party also expressed a wish to withdraw the troops from Incirlik.

On May 15 the Turkish government again banned the German Bundestag Defense Committee members to visit the German soldiers stationed in Incirlik air base. The German Foreign Ministry told Committee Chairman Wolfgang Hellmich that the Turkish government announced on May 10 the rejection of the request to visit the German soldiers in Incirlik air base. One reason given for the denial of access was Germany’s granting asylum to a number of Turkish ofcers who faced persecution following the failed coup in Turkey on July 15 last year