Turkey Shias Chant Death To US, Zionist Regime In Istanbul

Istanbul, Jan 14, IRNA -- Turkey Shia protesters chanted death to US, Zionist regime in a protest rally held to condemn the US forces based in the country over reports that the soldiers desecrated Islam on Sunday. Hundreds of Istanbul Shias took to the streets in this city to condemn the event. Some protests were also held on Saturday in the province of Adana, home to the Incirlik Air Base, where the US troops are stationed. The demonstrators demanded that the culprits be identified and punished. They also called for the expulsion of the US troops from Turkey. The rally came after reports that a group of drunken US soldiers broke the windows of a mosque and destroyed copies of the Holy Qur'an on New Year's Eve. The Adana Governor's office is said to have launched an investigation into the allegations. The Turkish military denies that the sacrilegious move was committed by the US troops. Turkey's Shia Muslims leader Salahuddin Uzgunduz in his speech to the demonstrators called the US soldiers' actions as desperate and condemned it. Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli had also in a statement released on Sunday condemned the action by the US soldiers and called for the government's investigation of the case. Incirlik Air Base is a United States Air Force installation, located near İncirlik, Turkey. Incirlik Air Base is located 8 kilometres east of Adana, Turkey, the fifth largest city in the country, and is 56 kilometers inland from the Mediterranean Sea. The United States Air Force and the Turkish Air Force are the primary users of the air base, although it is also used by the British Royal Air Force. Incirlik Air Base has a US Air Force complement of about five thousands airmen, with several hundreds airmen from the British Royal Air Force and Turkish Air Force also present, as of late 2002. The primary unit stationed at Incirlik Air Base is the 39th Air Base Wing (39 ABW) of the US Air Force. Incirlik Air Base has one 3,048 m (10,000 ft)-long runway, located among about 57 Hardened Aircraft Shelters./end