UPDATE - Erdogan, Merkel discuss Incirlik air base dispute

UPDATES WITH STATEMENT OF GERMAN GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN, CHANGES HEADLINE

By Ayhan Simsek

BRUSSELS (AA) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Ankara on Thursday to allow German lawmakers to visit the troops stationed in Turkey’s Incirlik Air Base.

Merkel met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Brussels on the sidelines of NATO leaders’ summit, and the two leaders discussed current problems in bilateral relations, German government spokesman, Steffen Seibert said in a statement.

"German Chancellor once again pointed out that it is indispensable that German lawmakers can visit our troops stationed abroad,” he said.

Seibert did not give any further details about the discussions between the two leaders on Incirlik.

Earlier in the day, Merkel had told reporters that she would raise the issue at a meeting with Erdogan.

"I will tell him that this is something indispensable for us," Merkel stressed.

"Because our army is a parliamentary army. Our lawmakers should be able to visit our troops. Otherwise we will have to leave Incirlik," she added.

Since 2015, Germany has stationed six Tornado surveillance jets and a tanker aircraft at Incirlik, along with around 260 personnel, providing intelligence and logistics support for anti-Daesh operations.

Situated in southern Turkey, the base is the main site for launching airstrikes against Daesh in Syria.

Turkey has been reluctant to give permission for German lawmakers to visit the base amid ongoing political tensions between Berlin and Ankara.

Last June, the German parliament approved a controversial motion which described the deaths of Ottoman Armenians in 1915 as “genocide”, sparking outrage in Turkey.

Most recently, earlier in May, Germany granted political asylum to a number of Turkish ex-soldiers suspected of involvement in last year's coup attempt, further straining relations.

Berlin has repeatedly underlined the importance of visit of German lawmakers with troops stationed abroad, saying the German army was not under the control of the government, but the parliament.