Turkey to open Incirlik base to Russia

Turkey may open its Incirlik airbase to Russia, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said, during an interview to TRT channel.

One area of cooperation with Russia is the fight against the Islamic State group in Syria, Cavusoglu said.

“We’ll cooperate with everybody against the militant group,” the Foreign Minister noted.

“We opened our Incirlik base to those who wanted to actively join the fight against IS. Why shouldn’t we collaborate with Russia in this issue?”

Turkey downed a Russian warplane near the Syria border on Nov. 24, 2015, resulting in a seven-month diplomatic freeze. President Erdogan helped thaw relations by sending a letter to Putin expressing his deep sorrow over the incident.