https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/turkey-could-shut-nato-airbase-if-us-imposes-sanctions-jzzlt3pmp
Turkey could shut Nato airbase if US imposes sanctions
President Erdogan warned that he may shut down the main Nato airbase in Turkey, as increasingly toxic relations between Ankara and Washington threatened the home of US nuclear bombers in the region.
Mr Erdogan made the comments about the Incirlik base, where 5,000 US personnel are based along with 50 nuclear warheads, during a televised interview last night. He also warned that the Kurecik radar station in the eastern province of Malatya could be closed to the US military.
It came after US senators approved a package of sanctions against Turkey in response to Ankara’s purchase of the Russian-made S400 missile-defence system, and separately passed a resolution recognising the mass deportations and killings of Armenians in Anatolia in 1915 as a genocide.
“If it is necessary for us to take such a step, of course we have the authority . . . If this is necessary, together with our delegations, we will close down Incirlik if necessary,” Mr Erdogan told a panel of journalists from a news group part-owned by his in-laws. “If they are threatening us with the implementation of these sanctions, of course we will be retaliating.”.....