Turkish police tear gas pro-Palestinian protesters at air base used by US forces
Hundreds march on Incirlik Air in southeast of country to protest US secretary of state’s visit to Ankara; officers use water cannon to keep crowds away from military facility

INCIRLIK, Turkey — Turkish police on Sunday fired tear gas to disperse a pro-Palestinian rally staged outside a military base housing US forces just hours before the arrival in Ankara of Washington’s top diplomat.
The protest outside the Incirlik Air Base in southeastern Turkey was organized by the IHH humanitarian relief fund, which in 2010 led a flotilla to Gaza that ended in a deadly clash with the IDF.
It came as Israel battles Hamas in the Gaza Strip after the terror group’s devastating onslaught against the country last month that killed more 1,400 people, mostly civilians.
An AFP photographer said the police intervened when the crowd began to walk toward the base after holding a peaceful rally in Incirlik.
Images on social media showed several hundred people waving Palestinian flags running across a field chased by the police, who also used a water cannon. There were no reports of injuries or arrests. US officials issued no comment.
The Mediterranean coastal base is owned by Turkey but used by the US Air Force and occasionally Britain’s Royal Air Force, providing them with strategic access to large parts of the Middle East.
Turkish Police and Special Forces used Water Cannons, Tear Gas, and Rubber Bullets this morning to Disperse a Crowd of at least Five Thousand Pro-Palestinian and Hamas Supporters in Front of Incirlik Air Force Base in the City of Adana, which Houses roughly 50 B61 Nuclear Bombs… pic.twitter.com/hISLuDQ0DY
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) November 5, 2023
The IHH protest was timed to coincide with a visit to Ankara by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who was to arrive late Sunday and meet Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Monday.
Nearly 1,000 people also rallied Sunday outside the US embassy in Ankara, according to an AFP photographer at the scene.
Meanwhile, in France, thousands of people marched in the southern city of Marseille in support of the Palestinians and calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. That demonstration, called by a group of associations, parties, and trade unions, was attended by 2,700 people in the afternoon, according to French police.
NATO member Turkey has been hit by weeks of occasionally vast protests since Israel went to war against Hamas last month.

Israel is trying to crush the terror group, which staged the deadliest attack in the country’s history on October 7, killing more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and taking at least 240 hostages. Four have since been released and one was rescued by security forces. The attack came alongside a barrage of thousands of rockets fired at Israel. Hamas and other terror groups have continued to rain rockets on Israel displacing over 200,000 people.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said Sunday that more than 9,770 Palestinians have been killed since Hamas sparked war with its murderous assault. Hamas figures cannot be independently confirmed, and the terror group has been accused of artificially inflating the death toll. The figures do not differentiate between terror operatives and civilians, nor between those killed in Israeli strikes and those killed by the hundreds of rockets fired by terror groups that have fallen short inside the Strip.
Turkey, which itself has been battling a decades-long Kurdish insurgency that has claimed tens of thousands of lives, initially defended Israel’s right to fight back against Hamas. But President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has toughened up his tone as the war grinds on and the civilian death toll climbs.
Erdogan has repeatedly lashed out at the United States for supporting the Israeli operation, which he has compared to “genocide.”
He led a massive rally in Istanbul last month that he said was attended by 1.5 million people, calling Israel an “occupier” that was acting like a “war criminal.”

Turkey said Saturday it was recalling its ambassador to Israel for consultations and breaking off contacts with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom Erdogan holds personally responsible for the civilian toll.
Jerusalem has said it is “re-evaluating” its relations with Ankara because of Turkey’s increasingly heated rhetoric about the Israel-Hamas war. It has withdrawn all diplomats from Turkey and other regional countries as a security precaution.
Israel was a long-time regional ally of Turkey before Erdogan came to power, but ties imploded after a 2010 Israeli commando raid on the Gaza-bound Mavi Marmara ship, part of a blockade-busting flotilla, that left dead 10 Turkish activists who attacked IDF soldiers after the boarded the ship.
The countries had been gradually mending their relations. They reappointed ambassadors last year and were relaunching discussions about a US-backed natural gas pipeline that could have formed the basis for more lasting ties.
Blinken, who paid an unannounced visit to the West Bank on Sunday as part of his Middle East tour, will be traveling to Turkey for the first time since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.
But Erdogan will be touring Turkey’s remote northeast on Monday, making it unlikely he will personally meet the US diplomat.
The Turkish leader said on Sunday that Ankara was “working behind the scenes” to stop the bloodshed and ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
“Stopping the bloodshed in Gaza is Turkey’s duty,” Erdogan said in televised remarks.