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Turkey asks NATO to sustain Patriot mission amid dispute with Russia

Xinhua, October 9, 2015 Adjust font size:

Turkey asked NATO to continue to deploy Patriot missile defense on its territory, amid Russia's recent military activities in Syria, Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Friday.

"National capabilities of the country are sufficient for Turkey's defense. We carry on work with both NATO and bilateral allies to enhance our defense capability in the upcoming period," a spokesperson said.

He added that the Turkish defense minister was in Brussels on Thursday and the continuation of the Patriot mission was on the agenda of the NATO defense ministry meeting.

The United States withdrew its Patriot units in Turkey in September and Germany will end its Patriot mission in October that were deployed against possible threats from Syria. Only Spain keeps batteries in Turkey till January 2016. Turkey asked NATO to continue to deploy Patriot missile defense system in the country.

Ankara "has not asked for deployment of high readiness force to Turkey at this stage," the spokesperson said, referring to NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg's statement on Thursday that the alliance might lead high readiness force to Turkey.

Turkey, a NATO member, said Russian aircraft violated Turkish airspace twice last week. The Turkish Foreign Ministry has summoned the Russian ambassador to Ankara to lodge a protest. Endit