Germany said it expected Turkey to formally request that NATO missiles be placed on its border with Syria soon, but stepped back from an earlier statement that the move was expected on Monday. \"The most important thing is not whether an official request comes today or in the coming days,\" German Defence Minister Thomas de Maiziere told a news conference on the sidelines of a meeting of European Union defence ministers in Brussels. Arriving at the meeting earlier, he had said he expected Turkey to formally ask NATO for Patriot surface-to-air missiles on Monday.