Turkey underlines NATO missile deployment purely defensive measure

Turkey underlined that the possible deployment of NATO missiles “Patriot” had defensive purposes only. In press statements last night, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that the NATO missile deployment purely defensive measure, noting that Patriot was a defense system, and Turkey had a 910-kilometer border with Syria where fierce clashes had been occurring. Turkey takes all measures for its own safety within the scope of its own national capacity as well as within the alliance system, he added. “The missile system is aimed at no goal other than defense. Escalation of tensions in Syria has forced us to consider any contingency. The important thing is the security of our country and our people. The issue is about defending NATO’s frontiers,” Davutoglu told reporters in a joint press conference in the Turkish capital, Ankara. Turkey last placed a formal request to NATO for the deployment of Patriot missiles along the Syrian border which saw an escalation of tensions between the two neighbors after a stray Syrian shell had landed in Turkey, killing five people. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has said that NATO would discuss Turkey’s request without delay. “If approved, the deployment would be undertaken in accordance with NATO’s standing air defense plan. It is up to the individual NATO countries that have available Patriots,” he said. The United States, Germany and The Netherlands are the only NATO members to have Patriot missiles in their arsenals.