Defense News:
ANKARA, Turkey — After a three-year deployment, Germany has withdrawn its Patriot air and anti-missile defense systems from Turkish soil. The move comes shortly after NATO agreed to strengthen efforts to protect Turkey’s southern borders and airspace. Germany, along with other NATO allies, had deployed the Patriots in Turkey to help the Turkish better counter any potential missile threat from Syria.
The German Patriots were dissembled into parts and loaded on the Britannia Seaways, a Danish ro-ro ship at Turkey’s Mediterranean port of Iskenderun near the country’s border with Syria. The system composes of 380 different parts. Earlier this year, the Berlin government said it would not renew the Patriot mandate in Turkey. The German Patriots were deployed in the southeastern Turkish province of Kahramanmaras…
