Turkey has banned the delegation of German deputies headed by the State Secretary of the country’s Defense Ministry, Ralf Brauksiepe, to visit the Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey, Spiegel writes.   

German Lieutenant General Dieter Warnecke told the magazine behind closed doors that the reason for Ankara’s ban is the resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide, which was passed by Bundestag in early June.

The official representative of the German Defense Ministry confirmed that Ankara didn’t arrange the plan of the German delegation’s visit. “The Turkish MFA told the aforementioned to the German Ambassador,” the ministry representatives said, RIA Novosti reports.  He also added that the German Defense Ministry has not yet received written clarifications from the Turkish government. The representative declined to “speculate” on the reasons of such a conduct from Ankara’s side.

The German delegation initially planned to make a study visit in mid-July to familiarize themselves with the condition of the German servicemen who take part in the operations against the Islamic State terrorist group.  

According to Speiegel, this denial is already the second “diplomatic slap” in the face of the German politicians.  Soon after the adoption of the resolution by Bundestag, Ankara cancelled the visit of the group of German journalists to Incirlik Air Base. Of course, the security concerns at the Air Base were mentioned as an excuse then.

On June 2, Bundestag, the lower house of the German parliament, formally recognized the Armenian Genocide.