Turkey has formally signed a deal with the United States opening its Incirlik air base to the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS militants, the Turkish foreign ministry said on Wednesday.
The agreement only concerns the fight against ISIS and does not include air support to Kurdish fighters in northern Syria, spokesman Tanju Bilgiç told reporters in a briefing.
Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Friday that it had approved coalition strikes to be launched from its air bases. That would also include air fields such as the one in Diyarbakır, southeast Turkey.
"The cabinet of ministers has given approval for the stationing in our country's bases of manned and unmanned aircraft of the U.S. and other coalition countries ... taking part in air operations against ISIS," the foreign ministry said, adding that Turkey's own aircraft would also be deployed.
U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the agreement with Turkey was part of an "ongoing dialogue that we've had for many, many months now on how to address ISIS in the region and defeat and dismantle it," using an acronym sometimes used for the militant group.
He said the agreement would "deepen cooperation" on things such as the program to train and equip Syrian rebels, intelligence sharing and operational coordination.
Turkey's decision to give U.S.-led coalition access to use its air bases came following the suspected ISIS bombing in southeastern town of Suruç which killed 32 people and injured more than 100 on July 20. A day later, government officials arranged an immediate meeting, which was followed by another security summit in which the security measures and strategies in further combating ISIS were discussed.
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