Turkey: Send in the Drones

After weeks of rumor and speculation, the Pentagon confirmed that it has moved a squadron of Predator drones from a base in Iraq to Turkey's Incirlik air base. The move comes in anticipation of the American withdrawal from Iraq later this year, but also in response to Ankara's request to host the Predators, which are being used to provide intelligence and surveillance in Turkey's fight against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). From AFP:

The United States has deployed Predator drones to Turkey from Iraq for surveillance flights in support of Ankara's fight against Kurdish rebels, a Pentagon spokesman said Monday.
With US forces withdrawing from Iraq by the end of the year, the four American unmanned aircraft will be shifted from an air field in northern Iraq to the Incirlik air base in Turkey, Captain John Kirby told reporters.
"There is an agreement now to fly some of those ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) assets out of Incirlik at the request of the Turkish government," Kirby said.
The robotic drones, which are unarmed, had been moved to Incirlik in the last couple of weeks, he said.
"It's my understanding they are operating out of Incirlik now," he said....
...."This is to help provide ISR support to the Turkish military to deal with the specific threat posed by the PKK on their southern border."

The deployment of the drones is part of what appears to be an upgrade of military ties between Turkey and the United States. The Pentagon recently announced that it is selling Turkey three Super Cobra helicopters, which will also be used in the fight against the PKK. Furthermore, the two countries are also discussing the possibility of Ankara's purchasing its own Predator drones or the more sophisticated Reaper UAV's. From a recent article in the Washington Post:

Pentagon officials also said this week that they support Turkey’s more controversial desire to buy Predator or Reaper drones, which can be equipped with Hellfire missiles and satellite-guided bombs. The unmanned aircraft have become a primary weapon in the Obama administration’s counterterrorism operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia.

They also are perpetually in demand among the U.S. armed services; the Pentagon’s willingness to sell the drones to Turkey underscores the importance that Washington places on its relations with Ankara.

On Tuesday, Turkish Defense Minister Ismet Yilmaz reiterated his country’s desire to acquire the drones in a meeting at the Pentagon with Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta, according to Navy Capt. John Kirby, a defense spokesman.