Angela Merkel's cabinet agreed on Wednesday to withdraw its troops from Turkey's Incirlik base, after last-ditch talks with Ankara failed to resolve an escalating row.
Germany has no choice but to pull its troops out of the key Turkish airbase of Incirlik, after failing to reach agreement with Ankara on visits by politicians, Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Monday.
Turkey will maintain a ban on visits by German politicians to a key airbase in its south which is used for raids against the Islamic State group in Syria, the foreign minister said on Monday.
Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel will fly to Turkey for talks next week over the thorny issue of access to the Incirlik military air base near Syria, his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Tuesday.
Turkey's prime minister said on Tuesday that Germany must decide between its friendship with Ankara and alleged coup plotters, after Berlin granted political asylum to military officials with suspected links to last year's failed putsch.
Ankara is once again blocking German politicians from visiting German troops at a base in Turkey, reportedly after the Bundesrepublik granted asylum to Turkish military members.
Six German lawmakers will visit a key airbase in Turkey on Wednesday, a Turkish official told AFP, as the NATO allies seek to move on from a bitter diplomatic row.
Tensions have been high between Germany and Turkey after Ankara has repeatedly blocked German politicians from visiting soldiers at a Turkish airbase. But Berlin still plans to invest some €58 million in that base, according to Spiegel.
Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Sunday that she hoped Ankara would soon lift a ban on German lawmakers visiting a Turkish airbase that was imposed amid a row over the Armenian genocide.
