Turkey is sitting with 60 American nuclear warheads at its Incirlik base by the United States because the Turks refuse to allow the US to station the warplanes there that would be able to deliver them.
The United States currently has 70 type B61-12 tactical nuclear bombs at its airbase in Incirlik in the southern province of Adana, according to daily Vatan.
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Between 10 and 20 of the 70 nuclear warheads at Incirlik were designed to be delivered to their targets by Turkish warplanes, according to the report.
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The US military needed a certain warplane type that is different than those stationed at the Incirlik airbase in order to deliver the remaining 50 warheads, the report by Norris and Kristensen said.
The Turkish state, however, has declined to allow the US military to deploy the said aircraft at Incirlik.
US warplanes would need to land at Incirlik from another location, equip the nuclear warheads and then fly to their targets, according to the report.
Turkey's refusal to station nuclear-capable US warplanes on its soil prevented Incirlik from acquiring a "full NATO position" status. This was a unique case among NATO bases, the report said.
| AoS at 0940 CT: the original news source is here. I'm not inclined to believe this report; as noted in the comments, I don't think the U.S. would give Turkey control over U.S. nuclear weapons. |
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