Erdoğan threatens to close key US bases over threat of sanctions

Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan said on Sunday that he might decide to close the Incirlik Air Base, which hosts U.S. nuclear warheads, in retaliation for U.S. sanctions threats and aa U.S. Senate resolution recognizing the mass killings of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire a century ago as a genocide, Reuters reported.

“If it is necessary for us to take such a step, of course, we have the authority. … If this is necessary, together with our delegations, we will close down Incirlik, if necessary,” he said on Turkey’s A Haber TV. Erdoğan also threatened to close the Kurecik radar base, according to the report.

“If they are threatening us with the implementation of these sanctions, of course we will be retaliating,” he said.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in October that U.S. President Donald Trump had authorized U.S. officials to draft “very significant” new sanctions targeting Turkey following its invasion of northeast Syria, Reuters reported at the time.