ANKARA, Feb 20 (KUNA) — Turkey Friday denied the US asked Ankara to establish a sea base after Kyrgyzstan announced closure of the US air base in the Central Asian Republic.
“We have not received any request in this regard up until now,” Turkish army spokesman General Metin Gurak told a weekly press briefing. He, however, did not deny press reports that the US might ask for the sea base.
Gurak declined to comment if the US asked Turkey to establish a sea base near the Black Sea city of Trabzon to replace the Manas air base in Kyrgyzstan.
Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev signed earlier today a law to close the Manas US air base used as a staging post for military operations in Afghanistan, a move expected to affect Washington’s operations in war-torn country.
Bakiyev’s announcement to close the Manas air base coincided with a USD two billion Russian loan to Kyrgyzstan.
Turkey, close to Central Asia, is a close US ally and would help Washington’s operations in Afghanistan if it approves to establish a sea base for the US.
The US military presence in Turkey is dated back to the 1950s. The US has been using Turkey’s Incirlik air base, which played a key role in the 1991 war to liberate Kuwait and monitor the non-fly zone in northern Iraq during the rule of late Saddam Hussein.