Action line 81210 - Local Nationals Shopping @ AAFES

  • Published
  • By Anonymous
  • 39th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
Incirlik Air Base, Turkey --  Complaint: 

Today I went to the shoppette and witnessed the manager in a transaction with a local national. I witnessed the transaction from beginning to end and the local national wasn't asked to produce any identification proving their eligibility to shop in AAFES facilities. 

The transaction consisted of six bottles of liquor, totaling over a hundred dollars, at least before the manager applied a discount. The total came out to about $90 dollars.
I am very curious to see why my counterparts and I are being rationed and the local nationals get to buy how much they want without having to produce an ID card or a ration card.

 To my understanding there is an agreement for the Turkish Base Commander to utilize our facilities, but there are far more people using this service than just the base commander and his aides. 

This issue has been brought up to AAFES leadership by AAFES employees and those employees were basically told to "Shut up and color". 

Why are we allowing this to happen in an environment where things are already hard to come by? Why should I go without something just because a local national, who probably wasn't authorized to shop to begin with, decided they needed to buy the stock out? This abuse has gone entirely too far, reaching from cigarettes and booze to electronics and baby items. 

What is being done to ensure that these incidents cease to exist in the future?

Response: 

Thank you for taking the time to comment, and for highlighting this important issue. I'm really glad you brought this up because it gives me the opportunity to once again address jumping to conclusions without all the facts.

What you saw was the sale of alcohol to an Incirlik Club Manager. AAFES supplies the club with their alcohol, normally on a larger scale, but if necessary the manager comes over and buys off the shelf with his Unit Impact Card. The discount you witnessed was the 10% that applies to all Impact card purchases.

There are many Turkish nationals who are authorized to purchase goods from our stores, nearly none of which are for their personal use (local nationals married to military obviously have ID cards and can shop for personal use). The consolidated club buys not just alcohol from the shoppette, but food from the commissary as well. Our fast food establishments also buy groceries from the commissary. Since the majority of these establishments have local national employees, they are authorized to buy goods as part of their job for the use in our establishments on base.

Please continue to be vigilant for abuses and we will check into all reports, but many of these allegations when researched are authorized transactions. We are on the lookout for abuses and will prosecute to the full extent of the law when they are found.

Thanks for writing.