The United States-led coalition against the ISIS jihadist group has resumed airstrikes from a Turkish air base that were suspended after a failed military coup d’etat, the Pentagon said on Sunday.
The United States-led coalition against the ISIS jihadist group has resumed airstrikes from a Turkish air base that were suspended after a failed military coup d’etat, the Pentagon said on Sunday.
“After close coordination with our Turkish allies, they have reopened their airspace to military aircraft,” Pentagon spokesperson Peter Cook said in a statement.
“As a result, counter-ISIL coalition air operations at all air bases in Turkey have resumed,” he added, using an alternative acronym for the ISIS group.
“US facilities at Incirlik are still operating on internal power sources, but we hope to restore commercial power soon. Base operations have not been affected.”
The Turkish authorities on Saturday imposed a security lockdown at the Incirlik air base in the southern province of Adana used by US and other coalition forces in the fight against jihadists in Syria and Iraq.
The government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday put down the bloody coup attempt, but it raised concerns in the West about the stability of the country and its continued role in the anti-ISIS coalition.
Meanwhile, France’s foreign minister warned the Turkish President on Sunday against using his country’s failed coup as a “blank cheque” to silence his opponents.
“We want the rule of law to work properly in Turkey,” Jean-Marc Ayrault told France 3 television, warning Turkey’s government against “purges”.
His remarks came as Turkish authorities continued a crackdown over the coup, arresting over 6,000 people accused of involvement in the putsch or of supporting the coup plotters.
Mr Ayrault said the events of the past two days had raised questions about Turkey’s “reliability” in the fight against ISIS.
“There’s (the question of) reliability on the one hand and, indeed, an element of suspicion on the other,” he told France 3 television.
This view was echoed by Mr Ayrault’s Austrian counterpart, Sebastian Kurz, who said Mr Erdogan should not “misuse” the coup as “a carte blanche to do whatever he wants.”
