En attendant Godot: Germany Must Push NATO to Settle Issue with Konya Base in Turkey: Official

Turkey banning German lawmakers from visiting German personnel at the NATO military base in Konya is a matter of relations within the alliance, and Berlin must urge NATO to settle the issue, chairman of the Defense Committee of the German Parliament Wolfgang Hellmich said Monday.


Earlier in July, the German Foreign Ministry had informed a group of lawmakers that their visit to Konya base, initially scheduled for July 17, was banned by Ankara. German government spokesman Steffen Seibert later explained that the visit was not canceled, but postponed to a later date. However, no information on the possible new date of the visit was provided.

"After all, this is a NATO base, so it is not a bilateral question, as in case of Incirlik. It is an alliance question. The federal government must strongly push for NATO to completely clarify the issue," Hellmich said in an interview with Die Welt newspaper, Sputnik reported.

Hellmich stressed that Germany does not want and cannot afford to depend on "case-to-case" decisions of Ankara.
  (Tasnim)
24/7/17