The U.S. Air Force has announced that it will pay eight different Turkish firms tens of millions of dollars to update the infrastructure and complete other construction projects at facilities it operates in that country over the next five years. This comes amid threats from Turkey's government, including from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to suspend or outright terminate American access to various bases in the country, including Incirlik Air Base, where the United States presently stores approximately 50 B61 nuclear bombs.
The Pentagon announced the Air Force deals, worth $95 million in total, in its daily contracting announcement on Dec. 23, 2019. The notice does not say how much each of the Turkish companies received. The Air Force only considered offers from local companies in accordance with the U.S.-Turkey Defense Economic Cooperation Agreement (DECA), which the two countries signed in 1980 and includes guarantees for Turkish participation in military construction projects.
(sigh) With all the "agita" NATO and the US have received from the current Turkish government, why this deal was not suspended until President Edrogan "behaved himself", is a mystery to me.
Is it a little economic "sweetening of the pot" to get him to fall in line with NATO and US positions?!? Frankly, at this point, I am not sure they are correct in still offering this; time will tell.
http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/31622/usaf-is-spending-millions-to-upgrade-turkey-bases-amid-turkish-threats-to-kick-them-out
Realist - Everybody in America is soft, and hates conflict. The cure for this, both in politics and social life, is the same -- hardihood. Give them raw truth.
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