Turkey asks US to base Predator drone on Turkish soil
Today’s Zaman
September 11, 2011
The United States is considering a request from Turkey to base a fleet of Predator drones on its soil for cross-border operations against terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) targets in northern Iraq, a news report said on Sunday.
The Obama administration has not yet made a decision on the Turkish request, the report in Washington Post said. The Predators have been flying from Iraqi bases since 2007 and the US shares data from the planes’ surveillance with Turkey as part of the two NATO allies’ cooperation against the PKK. Now that the US forces are scheduled to withdraw from Iraq by end of the year, this cooperation may effectively come to an end unless new bases are found for the Predators. …
The report came after Turkey announced that it suspended all military agreements with Israel due to Israeli refusal to apologize for killing eight Turks and a Turkish-American on an aid ship trying to break the blockade of Gaza on May 31, 2010. …
Read on: www.todayszaman.com/news-256422-report-turkey-asks-us-to-base-predator-drone-on-turkish-soil.html
