Photo: AFP
Six German lawmakers will visit a key airbase in Turkey Wednesday, a Turkish official told AFP, as the NATO allies seek to move on from a bitter diplomatic row, AFP reports.
The German parliament in June joined more than 20 countries in recognizing the Ottoman Empire’s World War I-era massacre of Armenians as a genocide, prompting fury from Ankara.
Turkey promptly banned German lawmakers from visiting the Incirlik base in southern Turkey, where Germany has around 240 troops as part of the international coalition fighting ISIS across the border in Syria.
A furious President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also accused German lawmakers of Turkish origin who voted in favor of the resolution of having “tainted blood”.
Ankara gave the green light last month for the visit to go ahead only after German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government clarified publicly that the Armenia resolution was “not legally binding”.
“Six German MPs will visit Incirlik air base Wednesday,” the official said Monday on condition of anonymity.
