The history of military bases in Turkey

Turkey is a country, which is surrounded by sea from three sides, the Black Sea in the north, the Aegean Sea in the east and the Mediterranean Sea in the south. It has a population of 70 million people and is close to the continents Asia, Europe and Africa. Especially being a pass way of Asia-Europe and because it is the neighbor of the Middle East, it is a very important location for the geo-political strategies of imperialism, especially US imperialism, and their profits.
With the breaking of the Ottoman Empire, under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk together with the Turkish trade-bourgeoisie, land lords, usurer and a little part of the high industrial bourgeoisie formed the Turkish republic (TR). The TR has been ever since its formation a semi-colony. Until the Second Imperialist Partial World War it depended mainly on German imperialism, then after the year 1950 it became merely bounded to US imperialism. In the political line of the TR, every 10 years there is a military coup d’ etat (1960, 1970, 1980). These coups were a very heavy punch for the left and the revolutionary-democratic struggle in Turkey. During that time, hundreds of revolutionaries, communists and Kurdish patriots were arrested, went through torture and were murdered. One of those coups is the one of September 12th 1980 which became a turning point in Turkey. This coup created also ground for liberal-politic participation on the economic level. Until the year 1982 the country was leaded by the so called National Security Council (NSC), again in 1982 the general constitution which was prepared by the military coup itself was accepted. In 1984 the regime was given to a puppet party.
Today, besides some little changes, the same constitution still continues. A constitution which has taken away all democratic rights.
Since the coup in 1980 there have been no more coups, but the NSC remained as main force in the government. The most important decisions are being made during their meeting. Also, the term "military coup d’etat" is always being put on the daily agenda as some kind of threat to extort the masses in Turkey.
Turkey is a society of many different nationalities but it also always denied the being of national minorities. Those that demanded national rights had to go through genocide and assimilation politics. The struggle of the Kurdish nation which has a population of 20 million people, always came across genocide and denying politics. The open ideology of the TR, created by Turkish nationalism and Islam religion, never gave the chance for other nationalities or minorities and denominations to live. It oppressed Alevis, Surians, Christians and other religions; it was forbidden to cherish their traditions or advance them. Besides this fascist participation the Turkish ruling class together with the USA has always been a lackey of imperialism. Since the war in Korea it has opened the door and the support for the USA which has used all kind of oppression against the people in the world, it has opened its land for imperialism and allowed imperialism to open up bases and helped by dropping death against the people in the world.

The history of the relationship with imperialism

As we mentioned above, the TR which is a semi-colonial country since its formation, tried to take place on the side of German fascism against the Russian and England-France-America block in the 2nd WW, but because of the power balance in the world and the existence of the Soviet Union made it impossible for them to participate on the sides of German fascism in the war. After the loss of German fascism and their allies in the 2nd WW the block of the USA in Turkey became stronger, and from that on Turkey continued its way as a lackey of the USA
If we mention the world after the 2nd WW in two sentences, the war made imperialism lose its control in certain ways, but advanced the socialist front. The main goal for the US was to protect its own part and become the main ruler in the world. For that reason after the 2nd WW the state president of US imperialism Truman and retired general Marshall, also called the Vietnam butcher, created a secret doctrine connected with a special plan, this doctrine carried Marshall’s name. The purpose of the plan was to cut of the development of the revolutionary movement, to build a "secure generation" and also attack against the Soviet Union. They tried to solve the relationships with European imperialists for their own interest and planned to surround the socialist systems and bring them to fall (this includes also the SU).
Turkey was a part of this plan. Turkey, which is neighbor with the SU and Europe, Asia and the Middle East, was something like a bridge. Turkey was a very important part of the strategic surrounding plans against the SU. In that plan, Turkey would have been the front police station of imperialism. In that plan on June 5th 1947 Turkey was included into the "Marshall Plan". Right after one month on July 12th 1947 the first Turkey-USA agreement was signed. That was the first agreement, but after that there were hundreds of more agreements which they signed and took their lackeyness under guaranty (only between 1950 and 1965 there were 51 agreements between Turkey and the USA). They are such lackey agreements that even Süleyman Demirel, during his time as president, said as follows: "Then we looked and saw that there is not one single file of the secret agreements made with America by some little rank officer and an American in the position of a captain, everything Turkey gave to the US, not one single contract is in our hand to prove these agreements". (7 April 1966, Cumhuriyet newspaper).
The rulers of the country gave solidarity to imperialism even before becoming a member of NATO. The government of the Democratic Party (DP) sent thousands of soldiers to Korea and was "rewarded" in 1952, when the NATO membership was accepted. Then, in the year 1954, in order to build imperialist bases, they sign together with America the "Soldier Easiness Agreement". Only 9 years after the agreement, in the year 1963, the number of bases from US imperialism and NATO reached about 101. Again in 1964, the space that the bases took on Turkish ground was about 35 square kilometers. The number of soldiers and bases from the USA and NATO in Turkey has never been revealed. All the different sources say different things. There had been times where the existence of bases in Turkey was denied. Concerning this issue, there is a very interesting statement by Süleyman Demirel, exactly at a time where the bases were being discussed. France demanded from NATO to close the bases in Turkey. Under the circumstances, in April 1966, Demirel said: "There are no bases in Turkey, there are establishments, they belong to the contracts of 1947 before joining NATO".
On one side there are the numbers of 101 bases in 1964. On the other side, right after the occupation in Cyprus in 1974 there were some decisions taken by the US against Turkey, an embargo began and all bases were shut down. It was also stated that the base in Incirlik would be put in an NATO ironclad, but it was made in such a rush that it was left in the open. The US senate made decisions on July 15th 1978 and stopped the embargo against Turkey. This decision was accepted by the representatives of the council on August 1st and signed by President Jimmy Carter on September 26th. In October, the US bases in Turkey were reopened. After two years, on March 29th 1980, there was a further agreement which was signed and then also accepted on February 1st 1981 (exactly during the coup of the September 12th) called "Defense Cooperation Agreement". Together with this agreement 12 more military bases and establishments under the US flag retreated. These bases and establishments were used by the USA, war planes and U-2 AWACS or familiar agents.
According to the "Successive Movement Bases", which was signed in the year 1982, Turkey became the owner of 16 bases to use.
Concerning today; even if it is not totally in the hands of the NATO (control and supervision is by the Turkish Weapon Forces - TWF) whenever NATO wants they can use these bases, these are usually air and information radar bases which have been activated since the 2nd WW and were used by the US.
All the sources say that the only base in Turkey that openly belongs to NATO is Incirlik, but all the other bases were given by the US to the TWF. Let us take a look to all the NATO bases besides Incirlik:

One of the 4 Common Under District Commands of the European Ally Command is the Southeast Common Under District Command. On January 2nd 1991 the NATO Defense Planning Committee decided to form an ally mobile force of air units in the southeast district of Turkey for support. This unit consists of airplanes of the air forces of Belgium, Germany and Italy and for the first time a different kind of education set. That force in Diyarbakır (probably Pirinçlik) and Erhaç consists of 42 planes and 300 working personnel. Germany has I-HAWK and the Robert rocket system there. That system was first brought by Holland.
Şile: Şile is still an existing place of Stinger rocket systems and an intention with 300 thousand dollar investment. And even has been formed into a shooting place. This shooting place can be used by all NATO members if they pay, once every 4 years, 1 million 200 thousand dollars.
Konya: Main Jet base commander is NATO’s AWACS airplane main base. The first flight had been started on October 25th 1983. During that time the NATO Turning Air defense group connected with the radar station working there. These radars were stationed in Lüleburgaz, Çanakkale, Izmir-Bornova, Izmit-Kütahya, Eskişehir, Bartın, Ankara-Ahlatlıbel, Amasya-Merzifon, Sivas-Şarkışla, Iskenderun, Ordu-Perşembe, Rize-Pazar, Erzurum, Diyarbakır and Mardin. About the existence of these radars there is no information available.
Eskişehir: There is the united air operation center. This center has been made to prevent nuclear, chemical and biological attacks. It started its activity on September 1st 1999. It is the biggest NATO air operation center in the south. The building, which is under the ground, is 90 meters wide and 15 meters high and is under highest security.
Aksaz-Karaağaç: Is an oversea base and belongs now to NATO.

Nuclear Weapons in Turkey that belong to NATO: Countries like Belgium, Germany, Greece, Holland and Turkey claim that NATO does not have any nuclear weapons in their ground. At a war situation the USA has special educated groups always being ready:

Balıkesir: Balıkesir 9. Air-jet base: That one is connected to the TWF. Right now there is no use of nuclear weapons, but if there should be a war situation then it will be discussed. There are 6 pieces of vault nuclear inclines. In the base there are F-16 and if needed nuclear rockets can be placed.
Incirlik: That belongs to USAF. 25 pieces of domes are placed there. There are rockets filled with nuclear which can be used at any time.
Murted/Akinci air base: In that base there are 6 pieces of domes. In Europe there are 214 "domes" that belong to NATO, of them 37 are in the ground of Turkey. Even if the discharge papers (Resolution) was not accepted by the council, there is no information about the secret agreement of the past and the one made during the time of the Iraq attack about the weapons found in the bases or establishments.

At the same time all NATO members signed the "Agreement of the Atomic information unity for the north Atlantic assembly" through secret agreements of both sides there are assignments of countries that will host US nuclear weapons.
These agreements never really reach national parliaments or constitutions.
To deny that there are no nuclear weapons in our country would be totally naïve. It is also known that in the year 1995 in Turkey there were 75 pieces of nuclear weapons belonging to the US.
Even if NATO is not everything in Turkey (leadership and control is by the TWF) it is known that whenever NATO wants they can use the bases and establishments which has been active since the 2nd WW by the US and have been, besides Incirlik, under control openly by the TWF.

On the ground of Turkey "little America"

In 1951 the construction of the base in Incirlik started. It finished in the year 1955 and opened in February under the name "Adana air base" and was named Incirlik in 1958.
During the Gulf war in 1991, in a form of "Force", it was permitted to have 1.416 US, 183 English and 139 French soldiers. 77 airplanes and helicopters were stationed in Incirlik. According to statistics, in the year 1995 there were 2.091 soldiers and 160 civil personal (2.251 all together) and 3.328 acres in the Incirlik air base. The base was used by the US to advance the popular U2 planes exactly when the Soviet Union in 1957 sent a rocket to space to get "attractive news". Until the year 1989 Incirlik was the biggest information center against the Soviet Union. This opened an unending crisis between the TR and the SU during the period of the "cold war".
The US used the soldiers which were stationed in Incirlik on July 13th 1953 to make an operation against Lebanon; it actually occupied Lebanon without even seeing the need to inform Turkey about this. In the same year, this time England used their bases to send soldiers to Jordan. Again in the year 1970 with the clash starting with the Jordanian government and Palestine guerillas and during the massacres towards the Palestine people, US transport planes were always flying and landing on the bases. It was said during that time that the USA was using the bases against the Palestinian guerillas.
In 1992 during the Gulf war again Iraq was bombed from planes coming from the Incirlik base.
The Incirlik base was used actively for US military infiltration information and operations.

The latest situation of the bases

Incirlik base has a surrounding of 25 km in length. Its flying rail is 3 km. It has been registered that the number of soldiers together with their families is more than 6.000. In the base are also 800 Turkish personnel registered. Still from the year 1991 there are 50 planes belonging to "North Keşif Force" which is connected to US, English and Turkish soldier units in Incirlik. These planes and 25 more were flying over places where airplanes are not permitted to fly in Iraq. Together with the occupation by US and English imperialism, that need for these forces were not necessary anymore. It has still not been explained if this base will be put into a long silence again or if it will be put into a statistical changing for other attacks against their enemy.
But it seems like that because of the resistance of the people in Iraq that the US tries to get the Middle East and the world under control. So the use for bases will still continue for a very long time.

The bases in Turkey during the time of the attack against Iraq

Way before the attack against Iraq, it was clear for the US that they will use their bases in Turkey. Especially there were plans made for Incirlik, which is about 500 miles away from Iraq.
In the end, on February 8th 2003, with the entering of Turkish soldiers to north-Iraq (Iraq-Kurdistan) the resolution for the US to have all the air-space open to intervene went through the council as fast as an air-jet. With the voting of the council and for modernization the use of bases and harbors was permitted. With this resolution Turkey’s government took an open stand next to the war. Together with this agreement of the TR, the US was permitted to send 40.000 soldiers especially to the district of Turkish Kurdistan and also established 9 more bases. With this the US started to form bases in Mardin, Gazi-Antep, Diyarbakır-Dicle, Şırnak-Oyalı, Nusaybin, Şanlı Urfa, Birecik and Viranşehir. Also, according to their plans the bases in Diyarbakır and Batman, which serve the US, are mainly soldier bases, Afyon and Sabiha Gökçen airport were supposed to be used for logistic transport. At the same time Iskenderun, Samsun, Trabzon harbors were planed to be given to the US.
This was not just for the occupation operation in Iraq, it also was an open occupation in our country by the US with all its bases, establishments and soldiers. Today, especially after the 1st Resolution, the movement against the attack and occupation in Turkey has grown. This reaction had a big ground which included democratic associations, revolutionary forces, trade-unions, profession-unions. With this movement the 1st Resolution was not accepted by the council and some national councils. It was a negative response for the US and on that day the use of bases was not permitted (that was on March 1st 2003). Of course this does not mean that the government was against this war. It is the other way around, today the representatives of the government say by every statement that they are still on the side of the "Coalition Force". Even if the 1st Resolution was not permitted today the Turkish ruling class, which considers the March 1st as an "accident", prepares to send its soldiers to be a good protection shield for the occupying forces.
Even if the movement against this occupation and attack is not as strong as before the attack, still the actions under the name "No to sending soldiers to Iraq" continues.