Today’s Zaman
Attending the Brussels meeting, US Secretary of State John Kerry also said on Wednesday that Turkey and the US will consult on how air and ground forces will cooperate to close the Syrian-Turkish border as well. US President Barack Obama on Tuesday called on Turkey to do a better job of sealing its Syrian border.
NATO allies plan to send patrol aircraft and missiles to boost Ankara’s air defense, after the decision by Germany and the US to remove their Patriot missile batteries from Turkey. Spain is the only NATO ally that has Patriots in Turkey’s Adana province.
“We must make full use of the capabilities we have to counter threats on NATO’s southern flank,” Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius told Reuters in Brussels during meetings with other NATO foreign ministers, as offers of ships and aircraft began to trickle in from allies.
“We must support our ally Turkey,” he said. Diplomats said measures are likely to include more ships from NATO members in the eastern Mediterranean, more NATO planes based at the Turkish base in İncirlik and more missile defense batteries in addition to that of Spain. Foreign ministers said in a statement that the situation on Turkey’s border with Syria and Iraq was “highly unstable” and committed to increase Turkey’s air defenses, which they described as “assurance measures.”
“We remain determined … to continue developing additional NATO assurance measures and allies are working to prepare other possible contributions,” the ministers’ statement said.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said he expected a decision on a package “within weeks” but sought to portray the reinforcements as separate from Russia’s air incursions and called for Russia and Turkey to seek a solution to the tensions…
