Cavusoglu said on Monday that his earlier remarks, made in an interview with TRT television network, had been misinterpreted.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu
In the TRT interview, Cavusoglu had said, “We will cooperate with everybody who is fighting ISIS. Ankara has opened the Incirlik Air Base to all those wishing to join the active fight… Why not cooperate with Russia in the same manner? Turkey is ready for such cooperation.”
The Turkish foreign minister did not specify in the interview whether he was making an official offer, and whether it had been conveyed to Moscow.
Referring to the media representations of his comments, he said later on Monday, “That’s not what I said.”
“I said we were ready [to] cooperate with everyone in the fight against IS,” he said, using a different acronym for ISIS.
German Tornado jets are seen on the tarmac at the air base in Incirlik, Turkey, January 21, 2016. (Photo by AFP)
The Incirlik Air Base lies eight kilometers (five miles) north of the Turkish city of Adana near the border with Syria, and currently hosts military aircraft from the United States, Germany, Britain, Saudi Arabia as well as Qatar. The latter countries are involved in the US-led coalition that purports to be targeting ISIS targets inside Syria.
The presence of US forces in the base may be the reason why Cavusoglu seemed to retract his earlier comments. The US and Russia support opposing sides in the Syrian conflict and are at loggerheads over a series of other issues as well.
Turkey itself has had rocky relations with Russia ever since it shot down a Turkish fighter jet near the Syrian border in November 2015. Turkey said the jet violated its airspace, a claim that Russia refuted.
One of the two pilots of the Russian jet — both of whom parachuted out of the aircraft — was killed by militants on the ground in Syria. The other was rescued.
Russia demanded an apology. Turkey refused, which plunged their relations into an abyss.
Ankara and Moscow have, however, been engaged in attempts to normalize their relations over the past week. In fact, Cavusoglu’s earlier remarks implying that Russian jets may be allowed to use Incirlik were interpreted as conciliatory in the midst of the attempts to normalize ties.
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