No Special Operations Bases in Turkey, Pentagon Officials Say

WASHINGTON, Jan. 27, 2012 — The Unit­ed States will not base more troops in Turkey, Pen­ta­gon offi­cials said here today.

“Reports about addi­tion­al U.S. force pres­ence in Turkey are false,” said Navy Capt. John Kir­by, a Pen­ta­gon spokesman. “We have had no such dis­cus­sions with the Turk­ish government.” 

News reports over the past days have said the Unit­ed States want­ed to base spe­cial oper­a­tions forces in Turkey. This is not true, Pen­ta­gon offi­cials said. 

The Unit­ed States has about 5,000 per­son­nel based at Incir­lik Air Base, an area shared with Turk­ish Air Force units. It is the largest U.S. mil­i­tary pres­ence in the country. 

Turkey is an impor­tant NATO ally. “The Unit­ed States mil­i­tary deeply val­ues its close rela­tion­ship with the armed forces of Turkey, one of our clos­est allies and NATO part­ners,” Kir­by said. 

Source:
U.S. Depart­ment of Defense
Office of the Assis­tant Sec­re­tary of Defense (Pub­lic Affairs)