Germany began on Sunday to pull its troops out of a Turkish air base where they have supported international operations against Islamic State following a row with Ankara over access, a German defense ministry spokesman said.
The German Bundestag in June voted in favor of moving its Bundeswehr troops at Turkey’s İncirlik Airbase to Jordan when Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel was unable to persuade Turkey to accept visits by German representatives.
The process of transferring military aircraft and personnel from the Turkish airbase to a new location in Jordan will result in the suspension German participation within the US-led coalition for at least two or three months, the German Defense Ministry said earlier.
German troops, an air refueling tanker, equipment and aircraft parts left Incirlik for Jordan’s Al-Asrak base Sunday, Germany’s defense ministry spokesman confirmed to Reuters and the dpa news agency.