NATO to continue supporting Turkey said C. Stoltenberg

NATO to continue supporting Turkey said C. Stoltenberg



NATO, which had already taken Turkey's support measures by the conflict on the border of, will increase further in the coming weeks, its assistance to this ally, announced today the general secretary of the alliance Jens Stoltenberg.

"We will work on additional measures to ensure the security of Turkey," Stoltenberg promised on arrival at the meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels.

The NATO chief stressed, however, that the alliance has decided "some years" to offer additional assistance to Turkey, which is a NATO member since 1952 and it borders with Syria and Iraq.

The Stoltenberg assured that "this is not linked to the incident last week" when a Turkish fighter shot down a Russian bomber that, as the Ankara had entered the airspace of Turkey.

The allies had decided to strengthen the Turkish defense antiaircraft developing the 2012 Patriot anti-missile batteries along the border with Syria. But in recent months the US and Germany withdrew their two arrays. It is open only one bank, which has been developed by Spain in Adana (southern Turkey).

"In recent months strengthened the antiaircraft defense of Turkey," explained Stoltenberg. In addition to arrays of Patriot, the US developed warplanes in the Turkish base of Incirlik and "Britain announced it will develop some aircraft 'also clarified.

Germany and Denmark have sent warships to the eastern Mediterranean, Stoltenberg added.

Because of the instability in the region, rose from the intervention of the Russian air force in Syria, which supports the regime of Bashar al-Assad, NATO has sent around in ten warships in the Mediterranean region.

"We will discuss during the session on how we can continue to support Turkey and provide various kinds of security measures," said the head of the Alliance. "I expect from other allies to take on more commitments, I expect further decisions in the coming weeks," he added.

NATO could, for example to send to Turkey aerial surveillance aircraft Awacs, which had proved very useful during the peak of the Ukrainian crisis to assess the situation on the ground. "They allow to have good information and the radar can see well beyond Turkish soil," he told AFP NATO official who asked not to be named.

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