Turkey agrees to host missile early warning radar for Nato

The radar is part of an anti-missile defence system aimed at countering threats from Turkey’s neighbour Iran Turkey has agreed to host an early warning radar as part of Nato’s missile defence system aimed at countering ballistic missile threats from neighbouring Iran. A Turkish foreign ministry statement said discussions on the country’s contribution to Nato’s missile defence shield had reached “their final stages”. It did not say when or where the US early warning radar would be stationed. Nato members agreed to an anti-missile system over Europe to protect against Iranian ballistic missiles at a summit in Lisbon last year. A compromise was reached with Turkey, which has cultivated close ties with its neighbour Iran and had threatened to block the deal if Iran were explicitly named as a threat. Under the Nato plans, a limited system of US anti-missile interceptors and radars already planned for Europe – to include interceptors in Romania and Poland as well as the radar in Turkey – would be linked to European-owned missile defences. That would create a broad system that protected every Nato country against medium-range missile attacks. Turkey has built close economic ties with Iran and has been at odds with the US on its stance towards Iran’s nuclear programme, arguing for a diplomatic solution to the standoff instead of sanctions. But the agreement over hosting the radar comes at a time when Turkey and Iran appear to be differing on their approach towards Syria, with Turkey becoming increasingly critical of the country’s brutal suppression of anti-regime protests. The ministry statement made no mention of Iran. It said the system would strengthen both Nato and Turkey’s own defence capacities. Russia opposes the planned system, which it worries could threaten its own nuclear missiles or undermine their deterrence capability. Russia agreed to consider a Nato proposal last year to co-operate on the missile shield, but insisted the system be run jointly. Nato rejected that demand and no compromise has been found yet. Turkey Nato Iran Middle East United States Europe guardian.co.uk

Posted by on September 2, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.