President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will visit Germany on July 7-8, presidential sources said Monday, as Germany is preparing to withdraw its troops from Incirlik airbase.
Turkey has been reluctant to give permission for German lawmakers to visit their soldiers stationed in Incirlik, due to controversial statements, mostly made by lawmakers from the socialist Die Linke party (The Left) who publicly announced their support to the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, Germany and other NATO countries.
Ahead of parliamentary elections in September, Merkel's coalition partner the Social Democratic Party (SPD) took a surprise decision and demanded withdrawing German soldiers from Incirlik, in protest to Turkey's stance.
Since 2015, Germany has stationed six Tornado surveillance jets and a tanker aircraft at Incirlik, along with around 260 personnel, providing intelligence and logistics support for anti-Daesh operations.
