Official: U.S. looking at rotational presence across EuropeNovember 3, 2020 - 18:49 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - The United States is looking at opportunities for rotational U.S. presence across the European continent, said Department of State Bureau of Political-Military Affairs Assistant Secretary, R. Clarke Cooper, on a conference call on Monday, November 2, after a trip he made to Greece, the Republic of Cyprus, and Bulgaria. Cooper's comments came in response to a question about whether the U.S. has eyed any potential alternatives to Incirlik Air Base in Turkey, as he had mentioned earlier that part of this trip was looking at things five, ten years down the road. "When we talk about looking at opportunities, I would open up the aperture, to use a military term, as far as looking at where we could have a U.S. presence either in a rotational fashion – we already do in Novo Selo Training Area. That’s a good example where there’s already a persistent rotational presence. But we are certainly looking at where we could do that elsewhere across the continent," Cooper said. "So it’s not unusual to be seeing officials like myself actually taking some time to do some site assessments. We, of course, want to see where we’ve invested some of our security assistance to improve facilities for sovereign use by allies and partners. "I would offer that when we talk about presence, it doesn’t always have to necessarily translate to PCSing, or Permanent Change of Station, or residency, but there is certainly a broad, deep look across the entire what one would call the European geographic combatant command as far as where we need to be and where we may need to be in the future." Relations between Washington and Ankara have soured over a number of issues. While media publications have suggested the United States' intention to leave the Incirlik base in Turkey, no official confirmation has been provided. Top stories Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". The earthquake caused a temporary blackout, damaged many buildings and closed a number of rural roads. Partner news | Russia warns Armenia against “falling into West’s trap” Zakharova maintained, however, that anything that will benefit the people of Armenia can only be welcomed. CSTO: Armenia has not participated in secretariat’s work recently Recently Armenia has not participated in the work of the secretariat of the CSTO, Imangali Tasmagambetov said. Meeting with U.S., EU not against third parties, says Armenia The meeting scheduled for April 5 is dedicated to strengthening of the Armenia-EU-US cooperation, Yerevan added. Ucom launches network modernization efforts in few regions of Armenia In particular, on March 28, the legacy Mobile Switching Subsystem will be replaced with a new one. |