Thousands of supporters of Palestine marched against Washington’s backing of Israel on Incirlik Air Base.
At the Incirlik Air Base in Turkey on Sunday, police broke up a pro-Palestinian demonstration with water cannons and tear gas. In a display of protest against the US and Israel, a convoy of demonstrators pulled up to the US base earlier in the day.
On Friday, vehicles and buses flying Turkish and Palestinian flags departed Istanbul for the base, which is located close to the Syrian border, just outside the city of Adana. The Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH), a Turkish non-governmental organisation, coordinated the convoy and requested that its allies “surround” the base as soon as it arrived.
Before the demonstration, the base was made more secure, and before the building could be surrounded, the mob was attacked with tear gas canisters by the local police.
pro-Hamas slogans were chanted by some demonstrators, according to the Turkish Daily Ummah news site. The site claimed that water cannons, rubber bullets and tear gas were used to disperse the throng from the American facility.
IHH organisers apparently asked the audience to leave after the crackdown. No casualties were reported right away.
Following the beginning of Israel’s air campaign against Hamas last month, protests broke out all over Turkey. According to UN statistics, women and children have made up 67% of those killed in the bombing campaign, despite the Israeli government’s claims that it is targeting the militant group based in Gaza. Since Israeli tanks and troops entered the territory, almost 9,700 Palestinians have perished, according to the most recent statistics provided by the Gaza Health Ministry. In the same time frame, over 1,400 people have died in Israel, the majority of them during Hamas’ October 7 attack on the Jewish state.
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Along with finance, supplies, and weapons, the US has also sent two aircraft carrier groups to the area to support Israel. Despite being a NATO member, Turkey has pulled back its ambassador to Israel, and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has severed ties with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and accused the Israeli military of war crimes.
“I think we should stop Israel as soon as possible, as it seems to be completely insane,” Erdogan said on Thursday. Ankara would also make sure “that those responsible for war crimes in Gaza will face justice.”
Incirlik Air Base has been in US usage since the mid-1950s. The base has used as a staging area for combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, reconnaissance flights over the Soviet Union, and air support missions during the US fight against Islamic State (IS, previously ISIS) in 2015. At Incirlik, the US also has about 50 B61 nuclear bombs.
On occasion, the post has served as a hub for anti-US and anti-NATO demonstrations; in 2016, thousands of protesters surrounded the base and set fire to American flags amid an attempted coup against Erdogan.
