Source: Global Security Newswire, 28 November 2012
Behind the scenes, Germany is reportedly urging Turkey to reduce the scale of its request for NATO members to deploy Patriot missile interceptors along its lengthy border with Syria, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.
The Turkish government called on the Western military bloc to lend it missile defense support following several incidents when Syrian mortars landed in Turkish territory and killed multiple people. Brussels has said it will quickly review and respond to the request while member states Germany, the Netherlands, and the United States have expressed a readiness to field their Patriot antimissile systems in Turkey, which has hosted such technology on two previous occasions.
The alliance might officially authorize the Patriot missile deployments during a two-day foreign minister session next week in Brussels.
An anonymous insider told the Journal Berlin is pushing Ankara to reduce the scope of its antimissile assistance petition down from the 15 Patriot batteries it has asked for. Though the source's information could not be separately confirmed, it does mesh with the two governments' public postures, according to the newspaper. Germany typically opposes the fielding of weapons technology that can have a destabilizing effect while Turkey has repeatedly called for the safeguarding of noncombatants impacted by the 20-month Syrian civil war.
Turkish officials reportedly have been told by their German equivalents that it would not be efficient to send air defense systems to cover the whole area "vaguely" described by Ankara in its discussions with NATO members, according to the source.
Germany is anticipated to be asked for more Patriot systems than it can easily provide while the Netherlands would have even fewer units to lend, according to the insider, who said it is not yet known whether the United States would step in to round out the full order of Patriots that Ankara is seeking.
Turkish news organizations report Patriot antimissile systems are being considered for fielding in three population centers -- the border territory of Sanliurfa; Malatya, which already hosts an alliance radar; and Diyarbakir, which houses an air force installation. A Turkish Foreign Ministry official would not discuss the veracity of the reports.
NATO and Turkey insist any Patriot deployments near the 565-mile border with Syria would be solely defensive and not serve as a precursor to the establishment of a no-fly zone over the neighboring Arab country. The Patriot interceptors are not to target air planes, rather they will be configured "to shoot down ballistic missiles which threaten Turkish territory or property," an unidentified official said.
Ankara fears Damascus might decide to punish it for its support of the Syrian rebels by attacking it with ballistic missiles armed with chemical warheads.
An individual Patriot battery can provide protection over a circle with a roughly 16-mile radius and needs about 70 to 80 troops to operate it.
A NATO delegation is currently on the ground in Turkey scoping out various spots, including Malatya that could host the Patriot missiles, the Associated Press reported, citing local Turkish news reports.