Pentagon awards Turkish companies with $95 mln base construction deal amid İncirlik row

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The U.S. Department of Defense has awarded eight Turkish companies a total of $95 million for construction work and other projects for its bases in Turkey, amid Ankara's threats on shutting down İncirlik Air Base in the southeastern province of Adana.

The Pentagon's website posted information on eight Turkish companies that "have been awarded a $95,000,000 multiple award firm-fixed-price, indefinite-order/indefinite-quantity contract for design-build, partial design and full design infrastructure requirements."

The contract information page also said that the work will involve the general construction of the military base's facilities and is expected to be completed by December 2024, thereby demonstrating the Pentagon's long-term plans of remaining in Turkey.

In October, The New York Times revealed internal communications between the Pentagon and the Department of Energy regarding a plan to withdraw the nearly 50 tactical nuclear warheads available in İncirlik, thereby "effectively ending" the two countries' military alliance.

The plan, made on the heels of Turkey's operation in northern Syria, never came to fruition, but the fate of the airbase remained a target for a subsequent falling out between Washington and Ankara.

Both President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoglu in a television appearance said that they were willing to review the status of the İncirlik Air Base, along with NATO radar station Kurecik, if Washington were to move forward with imposing sanctions on Ankara for its purchase and installation of Russian S-400 missile defense systems.