Ride to Peace
A group of 15 young people from different cities of Turkey began a bike tour from the door of İncirlik Air Base on Wednesday 23 August 2006. They organizeted an anti-nuclear, anti military bases bike travel across Turkey.
They protested US expansion policies and military domination over country. They pointed over the point that the presence of military bases, militarizaion of the societies are used to secure US and military products corporations interest at the cost of democracy, peace and justice.
They said “Nuclear weapons in İncirlik should be taken out of the country. Turkey and Middle East countries are concerned over the existence of these weapons. The new strategy of the USA is a pre-emptive strategy and is based on the strike of other countries. It’s very dangerous policy. This, happened in Iraq, in Lebanon and shall be in Iran in very soon future. We dont want invasions and nuclear weapons in our geography. There is only one way out in solving this tension, Turkey, Middle East, Europe and all the World should become a nuclear free zone”. “We are here because we dont want to live in a world full of terrible weapons of mass dest ruction like nuclear bombs. We want to make people aware of the big problem of nuclear weapons in İncirlik Air Base”.
They called their route as “Ride to Peace”. They said “We want an İncirlik without bombs, without nuclears and without U.S.”
The group, who began their approximatly 1.000 km travel on Wednesday morning at İncirlik –Adana. They stopped at Ankara after app.550 km and finally they terminated their tour at İstanbul, at “Rock for Peace” anti-capitalist music festival.
They will be welcomed at Festival by approximatly 60.000 people at 6 pm of Saturday 26 August .
The events “Ride to Peace” take place in the context of the “Close down İncirlik Military Base”,a part of worldwide campaign for the abolition of all foreign military bases.
90 US nuclear weapons are stored at İncirlik, with a destructive power equivalent to 100 times the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima.
There are currently US nuclear weapons stationed in 6 countries in Europe: at Lakenheath in England, Volkel in the Netherlands, Buechel and Ramstein in Germany, Aviano and Ghedi Torre in Italy, Incirlik in Turkey, as well as at Kleine Brogel in Belgium.