The Turkish government will allow German lawmakers visit to the İncirlik Air Base in the southern province of Adana in October upon their request, Deputy Prime Minister Nurettin Canikli said.

“We had not allowed their visit to İncirlik base due to decisions taken by the German parliament regarding the 1915 incidents. We had implemented that politics due to such absurd, meaningless and delusive decisions. However, Merkel announced later that this was not a judicial but a political decision. This is an announcement that meets our expectations. Therefore, from now on we will allow German parliamentarians to visit in line with their demands. They had requests on the issue. A permission has been given to them to enable their visit in October. It is on their own discretion to visit or not” Canikli told reporters after a cabinet meeting in Ankara.

Strained relations between Ankara and Berlin due to the Armenian bill, labeling the World War I-era killing of Anatolian Armenians as “genocide” worsened after Turkey rejected a German parliamentary delegation’s visit in late June to İncirlik Air Base, which hosts 250 German troops, six surveillance jets and a refueling tanker.

Berlin had threatened the removal of its military presence at the base to another regional country in response. The German troops and jets at İncirlik contribute to the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and Syria.

Earlier, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu had said the government had given permission to visit German parliamentarians’ visit after authorities met Ankara’s expectations.