Germany has reportedly removed two Patriot missile air defense complexes and 250 personnel from Turkish territory. The Patriot complexes were loaded on a Danish ship which left the Turkish port of Iskenderun on Tuesday.
© Osman Orsal / Reuters
In January 2013, 6 NATO Patriot complexes – 2 units from each of Germany, the Netherlands and the US – were delivered to Turkey to guard the border with Syria. Independent experts and Syrian officials linked this move with plans to establish a no-fly zone in northernt Syria. In September 2014 the Dutch Patriot systems were replaced with Spanish ones.
In 2015, American and German Patriot missile systems have been withdrawn from Turkey. According to the NATO’s information, Spanish Patriots will stay in Turkey for one more year.
It’s clear that some NATO member states are seeking to divide themselves from an ‘ally’ which makes business with ISIS and is roughly trying to provoke an open military conflict in the region.
In turn, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg promised that NATO will deploy more aircraft and command ships to Turkey to boost the ‘country’s defense capabilities’. However, there are no confirmed information which country will contribute to the Turkey’s ‘defense capabilities’.
