Turkish airbase has just raised its alert status for a possible attack from Syria

Diyarbakir airbase, one of the most important airbases in Turkey, located in the southeastern part of the country, is on alert status today for a possible Syrian attack.

Tolga Ozbek, aviation editor of Hurriyet Newspaper, informed us that on Aug. 30, the alert status was increased to “orange”, a level used when threat of attack is “high”.

It is not clear whether the Turkish authorities were informed of an imminent U.S. strike on Syria or the heightened alert status is caused by intelligence data suggesting Damascus is preparing to attack Ankara.

“Today is a holiday in Turkey but F-16s still on exercise,” Ozbek told us. “Also two squadrons from Merzifon Air Force Base (151-152nd both operating with Block 50 F-16s) and 171 Squadron from Malatya (operating F-4E 2020 Terminators) came to Diyarbakır.”

Some images taken recently at the base can be found here.

Diyarbakir is a large airbase hosting  181 and 182th Filo (Squadrons) and their F-16s since 1994. Base’s aircraft have been used in combat to attack PKK positions, to force a suspect Syrian airliner crossing the Turkish airspace to land, and were scrambled to intercept Syrian aircraft near the border.

Diyarbakir is also main comand center of Turkish Air Force’s 2nd Air Force Commands which controls the easth side of Turkey.

Image credit: via Kokpit.aero

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About David Cenciotti

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David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.