Turkey has reportedly agreed to allow the United States to use one of its airbases to launch airstrikes in Syria allegedly to target ISIL Takfiri militants.

Turkey has reportedly agreed to allow the United States to use one of its airbases to launch airstrikes in Syria allegedly to target ISIL Takfiri militants.

This comes as US General John Allen, US Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Christine Wormuth, along with a large delegation from the Pentagon, traveled to Ankara this week to meet with their Turkish counterparts, English-language Turkish newspaper Today's Zaman reported.

Meetings between the two sides started on Tuesday and continued through Wednesday and Thursday.

On Thursday, Turkey’s Cumhuriyet daily reported that Ankara had agreed to allow US drones at İncirlik airbase to be used against ISIL terrorists in Syria.

The newspaper further said that Washington had also demanded to have access to military bases in Diyarbakir and Batman for logistical purposes, adding that the two countries are close to clinching a deal on İncirlik airbase, but Ankara wants the US to support foreign-backed militants fighting against the Syrian government as a precondition.

Turkey also told the US that it should include the fight against the Syrian government in its train and equip program, according to Cumhuriyet.
However, a report by Daily Sabah said the deployment of the armed drones to İncirlik is nothing new.

"These reports do not reflect the truth. Armed drones were not discussed. In fact, they are already in use, so there is no need to discuss the issue, which has already been solved," the newspaper quoted a high-level source from the Turkish Foreign Ministry as saying.

"The agreement between Turkey and the US to use armed drones was reached in March and they have been in use since then," a military source added.