YEREVAN, JUNE 23, ARMENPRESS. During a press conference with the Foreign Minister of Malta, Turkish FM Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu explained the reason why official Ankara blocked the permission for a German delegation to visit Incirlik airbase, reports “Hurriyet”.

“All military technical delegations can visit the airbase, however, at this moment we don’t find appropriate the visit of the delegations of any military and political figures to Incirlik airbase. This is the essence of the problem”, Çavuşoğlu said.

Earlier Deutsche Welle reported that Turkey has denied permission for a senior German defense official and several members of parliament to visit Incirlik airbase in July, a spokesperson from the German defense ministry said.

Ralf Brauksiepe, the undersecretary for defense, planned to visit German troops in July with a parliamentary delegation, but has so far been blocked due to tensions between Berlin and Ankara over a Bundestag resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide.

"The Turkish authorities at the moment are not approving the travel plans," a German defense ministry spokesperson said, confirming a report in news magazine "Der Spiegel."

"There is no written statement on the reason," he said, adding the delegation still hoped to visit.

"Der Spiegel" reported that permission was denied in retaliation for the Armenian genocide vote.

Franz Josef Jung, a member of Merkel's conservatives and former defense minister, described Turkey's decision to block the Incirlik delegation as "absurd."

"Our soldiers are there together with NATO. They are there also protecting Turkey," he told the German newspaper "Mitteldeutsche Zeitung" on June 23.