Air base of the Turkish Air Force in Ankara, Turkey
Murted Airfield Command
(
ICAO
:
LTAE
) (
Turkish
:
Murted Hava Meydan Komutanlı?ı
, formerly
Murted Air Base
,
Murted Hava Ussu
(until 1993),
Akıncı Air Base
,
Akıncı Hava Ussu
(1993-2016), was an
air base
of the
Turkish Air Force
located 35 km (22 mi) northwest of
Ankara
,
[2]
Turkey
. During the July 2016
coup d'etat attempt
the air base was used by pro-coup soldiers, and government forces bombed runway thresholds to prevent pro-coup forces from landing or taking off. Following the failed coup, Akıncı Air Base was redesignated with its former name, Murted, and it was suggested the facility be converted to a memorial or a park.
Background
[
edit
]
Initially named "Murted", Akıncı AFB hosted the 4th Air Wing (
Ana Jet Ussu
or
AJU
) of the
Turkish Air Force
's 1st Air Force Command. It was one of the military installations in Turkey allocated to the United States in 1950.
[3]
It opened in 1960 with the purpose of defending Ankara.
[4]
The
US Air Force 7393rd Munitions Support Squadron
(7393rd MUNSS) was activated as Detachment 33 of the 7232nd Munitions Maintenance Group in Murted on July 1, 1965. The unit was re-designated as Detachment 8 of the USAF 7250th Support Group on February 1, 1968, which was finally renamed to 7393rd MUNSS on July 1, 1972. Logistical support for the unit came from the US Logistics Group (TUSLOG), headquartered in Ankara.
[3]
Later on, the munition squadron's name was changed to 739th MUNSS.
[5]
The detachment 739th MUNSS was part of the nuclear weapons custodian 39th Wing's Logistics Group stationed at
Incirlik AFB
. On April 25, 1996, the nuclear mission at the Akıncı AFB was deactivated following the end of the
Cold War
(1947?1991).
[5]
Today, six
Weapons Storage and Security System
(WS3) vaults are operational in stand-by status at the air base.
[6]
Akıncı Air Base hosted the
F-16C/D
jet fighters of the 141st (
fighter
), 142nd (
bomber
) and 143rd (training)
squadrons
.
[7]
[8]
[9]
The air squadron, which received the first F-16C/D jet fighters was the training squadron "Oncel". In 1999, the training squadron was re-designated as 143rd squadron, and became part of the Akıncı AFB because other jet fighters at the air base were of the same type, which enabled more efficient maintenance and training.
[9]
The air base is currently used by
Turkish Aerospace Industries
(TAI).
[10]
Coup d'etat attempt
[
edit
]
A
coup d'etat attempt
took place in Turkey on July 15, 2016, which was staged by factions of the armed forces.
Turkish Chief of the General Staff
Hulusi Akar
was taken hostage at the headquarters by the pro-coup soldiers, and transported by helicopter to the Akıncı AFB, where he was detained. As the coup attempt collapsed, he was freed the next morning by special forces.
[4]
[11]
It is alleged that the Akıncı AFB was the command center of the pro-coup military.
[4]
At 22:00 hours local time on July 15, 2016,
Akın Ozturk
, a four-star General in the
Turkish Air Force
and a member of the
Supreme Military Council
, who served as the
30th Commander of the Turkish Air Force
between 2013 and 2015, reportedly started the coup d'etat in Ankara by ordering of F-16 jet fighters of the 141st squadron to take off. The operation was led by
Air Pilot
Staff
Lieutenant colonel
Hakan Karaku?, who is the son-in-law of Akın Ozturk. The personnel of the 141st squadron had been sent home in the afternoon with the remark that their duty terminated earlier on that day.
[12]
Six F-16 jet fighters involved in the coup were transferred from the 8th Air Wing at
Diyarbakır Air Base
the day before because of their improved precision night-attack capability at low flight and
targeting pods
.
[13]
Two tanker aircraft of type
KC-135R
flown by the 101st Squadron at ?ncirlik AFB were employed for
aerial refueling
so the jet fighters could operate hours nonstop over Ankara. The jet fighters of Akıncı AFB were supported by
Sikorsky S-70
and
Bell AH-1 Cobra
helicopters from the
Ankara Guvercinlik Army Air Base
. While they were flying low at
subsonic speeds
and directing
air strikes
towards governmental targets and civilians,
[14]
anti-coup jet fighters from other air bases in Turkey took off and chased the pro-coup aircraft. President
Recep Tayyip Erdo?an
, in his constitutional capacity as the Commander-in-chief of the
Turkish Armed Forces
, ordered the shootdown of the pro-coup F-16s still in the air.
[12]
Anti-coup F-16 jet fighters of the 9th Air Wing from the
Bandırma Air Base
chased the pro-coup F-16s in the air,
[15]
and the
F-4E/2020 Terminator
jet bombers
of the 1st Air Wing's 111th squadron from the
Eski?ehir Air Base
bombed the
runway
thresholds of the air base to prevent the aircraft operating from Akıncı AFB from landing or taking off.
[14]
The pro-coup aircraft were thus forced to land at other air bases.
[16]
President Erdo?an credited the media and the people of Turkey in standing up against the coup plotters and said that the final straw that broke the back of the attempted coup was when the Turkish government dropped 12 bombs on the Akıncı Air Base.
[17]
Relocation and redevelopment
[
edit
]
Prime Minister
Binali Yıldırım
said while addressing a crowd in the
Kazan
district of Ankara, which houses the base: "That Akıncı Air Base which nested traitors will be closed and it will be turned into a place where the memories of our martyrs will be kept alive".
[18]
On August 12, 2016,
Minister of National Defense
Fikri I?ık
stated that there was popular support for relocating the air base and redeveloping the area into a "democracy park".
[19]
On September 6, 2016, the Turkish Air Force renamed the air base "Murted", which was the name it went by until 1995. "Murted" means "apostate", and it was given to the site in reference to the desertion of some troops of
Ottoman
Sultan
Bayezid I
(reigned 1389?1403) in the
Battle of Ankara
(1402) against the
Timurid Empire
.
[11]
The base's status was downgraded so that it is commanded by a
group captain
instead of an
air commodore
before.
[20]
With a governmental decree issued under the
state of emergency
, the three air squadrons were deactivated, and the air base jet fighters were transferred to be embedded at the
5th Air Wing Merzifon AFB
,
1st Air Wing Eski?ehir AFB
and
3rd Training Wing Konya AFB
.
[20]
The final destination of the TAI facilities hosted by the air base remains unclear.
[20]
Name and status change
[
edit
]
The facility was initially named "Murted" after the location in Ankara at its establishment as an airbase. In 1993, the air base was renamed "Akıncı" in honor of Staff
Group captain
Erol Akıncı, who died during a flight mission in 1968. The facility's status as an airbase was downgraded in September 2016 to an airfield following the 15 July 2016 coup d'etat attempt because it played a major role as the headquarters of the plot, and subsequently relocation of the 4th Air Wing.
[21]
Other airports in Ankara
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Airport information for LTAE"
.
World Aero Data
. Archived from the original on March 5, 2019.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (
link
)
Data current as of October 2006. Source:
DAFIF
.
- ^
"Murted ne demek? Murted Hava Ussu nerede?"
.
Haberturk
(in Turkish). July 12, 2019
. Retrieved
July 12,
2019
.
- ^
a
b
Leiser, Gary (January 1986).
"HQ TUSLOG ? A Brief History"
. USAF in Europe
. Retrieved
September 24,
2016
.
- ^
a
b
c
"194 killed in quashed Gulenist coup attempt: Military"
.
Hurriyet Daily News
. July 15, 2016
. Retrieved
July 16,
2016
.
- ^
a
b
"United States Air Forces in Europe ? Munitions Support Squadron [MUNSS]"
. Global Security
. Retrieved
September 24,
2016
.
- ^
"Locations of U.S. Nuclear Weapons, by Type"
(PDF)
. NRDC. p. 79. Archived from the original on September 16, 2012
. Retrieved
July 16,
2016
.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (
link
)
- ^
"F-16 Aircraft Database ? Current active F-16 airframes assigned to TuAF 141 Filo"
. F-6 Net. Archived from the original on February 2, 2014
. Retrieved
July 16,
2016
.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (
link
)
- ^
"F-16 Aircraft Database ? Current active F-16 airframes assigned to TuAF 142 Filo"
. F-6 Net. Archived from the original on February 2, 2014
. Retrieved
July 16,
2016
.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (
link
)
- ^
a
b
"143 Filo (TUAF)"
. F-6 Net. Archived from the original on September 13, 2015
. Retrieved
July 16,
2016
.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (
link
)
- ^
"Demiroren Haber Ajansı - Son Dakika Haberleri ve Guncel Haberler"
.
- ^
a
b
"Turkey's Chief of Staff Hulusi Akar rescued from pro-coup soldiers"
.
Daily Sabah
. July 16, 2016
. Retrieved
July 16,
2016
.
- ^
a
b
"Akın Ozturk'un ilk foto?rafı"
.
Hurriyet
(in Turkish). July 17, 2016
. Retrieved
July 17,
2016
.
- ^
"Tanker ucak 'vururuz' denilerek indirildi!"
.
Hurriyet
(in Turkish). July 20, 2016
. Retrieved
July 22,
2016
.
- ^
a
b
"F-16'lar kalkmasın diye Ankara Akıncı Ussu'nun pistlerinin bombalandı?ı iddia edildi"
.
Hurriyet
(in Turkish). July 16, 2016
. Retrieved
July 22,
2016
.
- ^
Ozbek, Tolga (July 16, 2016).
"??te darbe giri?iminin perde arkası"
.
Hurriyet
(in Turkish)
. Retrieved
July 22,
2016
.
- ^
"Ankara'daki Akıncı Ussu boyle vuruldu"
.
Hurriyet
(in Turkish). July 22, 2016
. Retrieved
July 22,
2016
.
- ^
"Erdo?an says he does not believe coup attempt is over, vows to take further steps"
.
Hurriyet Daily News
. August 6, 2016
. Retrieved
August 7,
2016
.
- ^
"Turkish government to move main military bases out of Ankara, Istanbul"
.
Hurriyet Daily News
. July 29, 2016
. Retrieved
July 29,
2016
.
- ^
"Akıncı Air Base to become 'democracy park'
"
.
Hurriyet Daily News
. August 12, 2016
. Retrieved
August 13,
2016
.
- ^
a
b
c
"Turkish Air Force changes name of main base in Ankara used in coup attempt"
.
Hurriyet Daily News
. September 6, 2016
. Retrieved
September 6,
2016
.
- ^
"Ankara Haberleri: Akıncı yeniden Murted oldu"
.
Hurriyet
(in Turkish). September 6, 2016
. Retrieved
July 12,
2019
.
External links
[
edit
]
Media related to
Akıncı Air Base
at Wikimedia Commons