Photo: DPATurkey has agreed to let German lawmakers visit troops stationed at a Turkish base next month, the German foreign minister said in a letter seen Tuesday, after NATO stepped in to reduce tensions over the hot-button issue. Up to seven MPs will be allowed to visit Konya airfield in central Turkey on September 8th as part of a NATO trip, Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel wrote in a letter to the German parliamentary defence committee on Monday. Ankara blocked a planned July visit by German MPs to Konya, where some 30 German soldiers are stationed, citing the deteriorating relationship with Berlin. The long-simmering row over MPs' access to German troops on Turkish soil boiled over in June when Berlin pulled out 260 troops from Turkey's Incirlik base and relocated them to Jordan, after Ankara repeatedly thwarted lawmakers' efforts to visit. Approval for the Konya visit came after NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg offered to arrange the trip for the German lawmakers within the defence alliance's framework, to which Ankara agreed, according to Gabriel.

Source: The Local August 08, 2017 15:45 UTC