Russian strategist claims US soldiers at İncirlik 'involved in Turkey's coup attempt'

The director of the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies (RISS), a think tank directly linked to the Kremlin, has claimed that U.S. troops deployed at Turkey's İncirlik Air Base were involved in the failed July 15 coup attempt. 

Leonid Reshetnikov said Russia had obtained information that U.S. soldiers stationed in Turkey were involved in the coup attempt to overthrow the government and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. 

"There are some groups that do not want Turkish-Russian relations to develop. Among them are people linked to the U.S. or the Gülen movement," Reshetnikov said, referring to U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen, a one-time ally of Ankara who the government now accuses of orchestrating the July 15 coup attempt.  

"We believe that those who were effective in the downing of the Russian air craft were first and foremost Erdoğan's enemies, and at the same time were linked to the U.S. We also have such information that U.S. troops deployed at İncirlik were involved in the realization of [the downing of the Russian jet]," added Reshetnikov, who for 33 years until 2009 worked at Russia's Foreign Intelligence department. 

On Nov. 24, 2015, Turkey downed a Russian Su-24 aircraft on its border with Syria on the grounds of an air space violation. Relations between Moscow and Ankara plummeted following the incident, with Russia issuing economic sanctions on Turkish goods and a ban on traveling to Turkey.

Relations between the two countries started to be restored after Erdoğan penned a letter to his Russian counterpart Vladimit Putin in June. The two leaders have met three times in person since then, leading to the lifting of the travel ban as well as most of the economic sanctions. 

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