Turkey redirects European missile shield to Syria
Turkey redirected the European missile defense system in the Kurecik base near the city of Malatya to Syria to monitor the situation in the country, the Sabah newspaper reported.
This will allow Turkey to control offensive and defensive actions of the Syrian government troops and missile launches. According to the newspaper, Turkey took such a decision with the consent of NATO after shells from Syrian territory killed five Turkish citizens on Oct.3.
Turkey is proceeding to deliver military equipment to the border with Syria after the Turkish parliament made a decision enabling trans-boundary operations against Syria. Ankara states that such measures are taken to prevent further provocations of Syria, and start of an armed conflict is out of the question.
The decision to deploy elements of the European missile defense shield in Turkey was made at the NATO summit in Lisbon in 2010, and Turkey initially supported the initiative.
The agreement on deploying missile defense radar in a military base in Kurecik was signed by U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Francis Ricciardone and Advisor to Foreign Minister, Firuddin Sinirlioglu in September 2011.
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