Source: Turkey Allowing U.S. to Use Air Base

ISTANBUL, Turkey – Turkey (search) is letting the American military use a southern air base for a massive rotation of troops in and out of Iraq, a U.S. official told The Associated Press as the two countries try to improve ties strained by the war.

The military recently started using Turkey's Incirlik (search) air base to transport soldiers out of Iraq and "a large number" of troops were expected to pass through the base in the coming months, the U.S. official said Sunday, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Camps in Kuwait and air bases in Germany also were expected to be used as the United States deals with the largest movement of troops in decades.

The military is preparing to send some 130,000 U.S. troops in Iraq home over the coming months, replacing them with a more mobile, less heavily armed force of about 110,000. Points in Bahrain (search), Qatar and Spain also could be used in the rotation.

Any future U.S. presence at Incirlik had been in doubt after Turkey, which borders Iraq to the north, opposed the war to oust Saddam Hussein last year and refused to let U.S. troops on its territory ahead of the March 20 invasion.

The decision, which drove a deep wedge between NATO-member Turkey and the United States, proved an obstacle for U.S. war planners and disrupted plans for a ground movement from the north.

But Turkey is increasingly eager to win favor with the United States amid concerns over Iraqi Kurdish (search) postwar demands for greater autonomy in oil-rich northern Iraq. Turkey, and neighbors Syria and Iran, fear Iraqi Kurds might eventually push for independence and bring instability to their borders.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected to raise Turkey's concerns about Iraq during talks with President Bush in Washington later this month.

Erdogan declined to comment Sunday, saying the military would make a statement when it was necessary. A U.S. spokesman at Incirlik refused to comment about the rotations, citing security concerns.

Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said Friday there was "nothing new" at the base but said Incirlik "has been used and will be used, because the transportation of certain soldiers is more secure through Incirlik."

The U.S. military has maintained a presence at Incirlik since the 1950s, and because the base is only an hour's flight from Iraq, it is an ideal location to support the rotations.

U.S. forces had based some 50 warplanes at Incirlik after the 1991 Gulf War to patrol a no-fly zone over northern Iraq. But the United States withdrew its forces last year as tension escalated between Washington and Ankara.

Since the Iraq war's end, Turkey has again agreed to open Incirlik and other sites to the U.S.-led coalition for logistical support as part of efforts to improve ties with Washington.

Turkey even offered to send peacekeepers to Iraq, but that offer was shelved amid strong Iraqi opposition.

Iraqi Kurds, for example, feared Turkish troops might threaten the autonomy they enjoyed in northern Iraq after the Gulf War. Turkey fought a 15-year war with Kurdish rebels in southeastern Turkey and fears a Kurdish state at its borders could spark new fighting.

The 1,400 U.S. soldiers at Incirlik -- half as many as before the war -- have been supporting the Iraq operation with tankers to fuel aircraft and by delivering supplies to Iraq, a U.S. military official at Incirlik air base said on condition of anonymity. The base also has occasionally sent U.S. troops to help support the Iraq mission, he added.

During a visit to Ankara last month, U.S. Undersecretary of State Marc Grossman said the U.S. military wanted to continue using Incirlik as it realigns American troops and bases to better respond to new threats like terrorism. The realignment is likely to close or scale down many of the permanent bases set up in Germany and other NATO nations to face the Soviet threat.

But U.S. officials said it was too early to say if additional troops might be sent to Incirlik as part of the realignment.