German FM to visit Turkey on June 5 with İncirlik air base on agenda: FM Çavuşoğlu

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has said his German counterpart, Sigmar Gabriel, will visit Turkey on June 5, during which time they will discuss a recent rift on the cancellation of a German parliamentary visit to the İncirlik Air Base.

Ankara had prevented German lawmakers from visiting the roughly 250 troops stationed at the base as part of the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), saying that Berlin needs to improve its attitude first.

However, the minister noted that it was currently impossible for Ankara to open the air base to the lawmakers' visit without positive steps being taken.
    
"We see that Germany supports everything that is against Turkey," Çavuşoğlu told a news conference in Ankara.

"Under these circumstances it is not possible for us to open İncirlik to German lawmakers right now ... If they take positive steps in the future we can reconsider," he said.

Earlier, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had said Ankara would certainly allow the German lawmakers' visit to the base on condition that the list of visitors sent by the German foreign minister is seen suitable, as it was in the past. However, he also noted that sometimes there are lawmakers who "openly supported terrorists." 

"Sometimes there may be those who openly support terrorists among German lawmakers ... We expressed that some who openly support terrorists and almost act together with them will not be welcomed. Right now, our foreign ministers will discuss the issue with each other and we will take a step accordingly," Erdoğan said on May 26 while returning to Turkey after meeting with top EU officials and leaders in Brussels.