The Turkish media report that, on Saturday night, around 7000 police officers have surrounded the NATO military base of Incirlik. The Turkish minister of European affairs stated that this was an operation to review security.
The Turkish newspaper Hurriyet posted on its site that the operation was ordered in response to information about a new attempt to overthrow the government.
The “security check” was concluded on early Sunday morning. Turkish government supporters had gathered outside the base with the request to shut the base down. Analysts have expressed their concern over this development since it is rumoured that the American army might be storing nuclear weapons in the base.
Relations between Turkey and the USA are becoming increasingly tense as R.T.Erdogan is escalating his verbal attacks against the American presence in Turkey’s NATO military bases. The Turkish president is now naming American generals who have supposedly played a part in the failed coup attempt.
Most recently Erdogan accused the US government of having given the putsch’ists the information on his whereabouts on the night that the coup was attempted. The information was used in order to locate and arrest or kill the president.