Press Releases

Embassy Statement

Concerning "Hürriyet" Report on Incident at İncirlik

Ankara, June 30, 2005. A front-page story in today’s "Hürriyet" mischaracterizes an incident that occurred when a US military plane declared an emergency and landed at Incirlik Airbase in November 2004. The report misquotes a US official in Washington, claiming the official said that a US soldier had been handcuffed by Turkish authorities at the base. Although there were some communication problems between Turkish and US officials at Incirlik when the plane landed, no soldier was handcuffed, and the situation was quickly resolved. The Embassy notes that cooperation at Incirlik between the United States and Turkey is excellent, as demonstrated by the establishment earlier this month of a logistics hub to facilitate the delivery of non-lethal cargo to Iraq and Afghanistan.