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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Gul Says Turkey Reserves Right to Arm Against Any Syria Threat |
| 2012-11-09 |
| [An Nahar] Turkey's President Abdullah Gul said Thursday that the country reserved the right to defend itself against any threat from neighboring Syria, amid discussions about the possible deployment of U.S. Patriot missiles. "Patriots... are being discussed within NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... . It is only natural for us to take any measure for defense reasons," Gul told news hounds, but insisted that it was "out of the question for Turkey to start a war with Syria.” And he also hoped that Syria would not act "illogically." On Wednesday, Turkey said it is in talks with NATO over the possible deployment of Patriot missiles on its soil as part of contingency planning on the security of Turkey and NATO territories. Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told news hounds in Brussels that it was only "normal" to discuss any defense measures in the face of potential risk from Syria. Turkey has already beefed up border security with tanks and anti-aircraft batteries in the face of the deadly 20-month conflict in Syria, which has occasionally spilled over onto Turkish soil. Turkish border units have systematically retaliated to cross-border shelling since Syrian fire killed five Turks on October 3. |
| Posted by:Fred |