UAE Crown Prince Bin Zayed in talks with US over transferring of Turkey base: Report

Abu Dhabi is reportedly in talks with Washington over transferring of a US military airbase in Turkey to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Middle East Monitor on September 21, citing a report from New Khaleej, said the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Zayed is headling the talks with the Pentagon over the transferring of the US Incirlik Air Base from Turkey to his country. This comes less than a week after UAE inked the historic US-brokered Abraham Accord to normalize relations with Israel. 

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UAE seeking to increase cooperation with US

According to the report, the middle-eastern country is also working on several other economic and military projects in partnership with the United States and various financial institutions from the western nation. The report stated that Washington and Abu Dhabi are working to increase their presence on the south coast of Yemen, the war-torn country below Saudi Arabia. 

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Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Campbell, however, told a media organization last week that the United States is not seeking to shift from the Incirlik airbase in Turkey. Campbell said that the United States has worked at the base for decades now in cooperation with Turkey and will continue to do so as it demonstrates strong relations between Washington and its NATO ally. 

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Relations between the UAE and Turkey are not at its best at the moment as last month after the UAE-Israel deal was announced, Ankara had accused Abu Dhabi of betraying the Palestinian cause and had threatened to cut all formal ties with the nation. 

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