ANKARA - The United States has begun using the Incirlik Base in southern province of Adana for rotation of its soldiers in Iraq. Meanwhile, it was reported that submission of a motion to the parliament for permission about the United States' use of the base restricted with only transit passage, was not required.
Reliable sources told the A.A correspondent on Monday that the United States had requested in the last weeks of 2003 to use the base for rotation of its soldiers in Iraq.
After Turkey responded the request in the affirmative, the United States started using the base for rotation of its soldiers as of January 7, 2004.
The United States has been allowed to use the base under the decision no: 5755 of the Council of Ministers dated June 23, 2003.
The decision of which secrecy was lifted says, ''under activities to implement the decision no: 1483 of the United Nations Security Council dated May 22, 2003 about settlement of stability and security in Iraq to protect its freedom and territorial integrity, its rebuilding process and dispatch of humanitarian and other aid to Iraq; the Council of Ministers decided on June 23, 2003 to allow friendly and allied countries to use ports, airports, facilities and bases to be determined in line with principles and rules of the General Staff, for above-mentioned targets, and for logistic support purposes including transportation of military equipment and personnel for a year as of the date of this decree.''
The United States officially decided to use Incirlik Base for rotation of its soldiers in Iraq on January 1, 2004. Rotation of U.S. soldiers is expected to last for four months.
It was reported that submission of a motion to the parliament for permission about the United States' use of the Incirlik Air base in southern province of Adana for rotation of its soldiers in Iraq was not required since the use of the base was restricted with only transit passage.
Sources noted that the Incirlik base was also used for the military troops of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan.
Rotation of U.S. soldiers is expected to last for four months. Under the rotation, which started on January 7, 2003, a total of 700 thousand U.S. soldiers had been transported from Iraq to the United States via Turkey so far.
Sources said that nearly 120 thousand U.S. soldiers would be transported to the United States via Turkey.
Noting that the General Staff and the U.S. Department of Defense had reached a compromise, sources said that the U.S. soldiers would not spend the night at the base under the compromise.
The same sources pointed out that the United States did not make a request for use of another base in Turkey.
(UK-AY) 12.01.2004