Turkey and United States say that Washington will withdraw its Patriot missile batteries from the country in October after bolstering Ankara’s air defenses against threats from Syria’s civil war. Apart from Germany, the US, the Netherlands, and since 2015, Spain, have taken part in the mission.
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Turkey turned to its North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies for help over its troubled frontier after a mortar bomb fired from Syrian territory killed five Turkish civilians in the border town of Akcakale in 2012.
Since January 2013, about 400 soldiers from the German army and two missile batteries have been stationed in the south of Turkey, at the request of Ankara.
The U.S. and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation are committed to supporting Turkey’s security and regional stability, and if needed, the U.S.is prepared to return Patriot assets and personnel to Turkey within one week, noted the statement. It said U.S. navy ships would be present in the Mediterranean to support Turkey’s defense.
Germany’s Patriot deployment to Turkey has been extended by the German Parliament twice before, despite objections from many lawmakers. According to the survey, 48 percent of Germans want German troops to be withdrawn from Turkey soon due to recent clashes in the region, while only 35 percent of them oppose this move.
Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen announced at the weekend that Berlin would let its three-year Patriot mission lapse in January instead of seeking parliamentary approval to extend it.
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German missiles were deployed near the city of Kahramanmaras (southern Turkey), a hundred kilometers from the Syrian border. Last month, von der Leyen voiced concerns about Turkish airstrikes on Kurdish bases in northern Iraq.
