1 March 2012 /TODAYS ZAMAN A radar site based in Malatyas Kürecik district, which is part of a NATO early
warning radar system, was formally declared operational and US soldiers have been
deployed there since the beginning of 2012, international media sources have
reported. Mark Hertling, a top US Army commander in Europe, announced on Sunday in
Montenegros capital of Podgorica that US forces have started to man Malatyas
Kürecik radar site, which is part of a wider NATO missile defense system, The
Associated Press reported. I can only speak for the ground-based air defense units.
But I will tell you that we constantly coordinate (with the US Navy and Air Force),
and I think we are well on track to conducting missile defense, said Hertling. Hertlings announcement is the first formal confirmation that the NATO missile
defense system is operational. Turkeys decision to allow the system to be deployed
in Malatya, which is designed to prevent an Iranian missile threat, as explicitly stated
by US officials, strained Turkish-Iranian ties. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, diplomats in the Turkish Foreign Ministry
also affirmed that the site has been operational since the beginning of 2012,
speaking to Todays Zaman on Thursday. Pentagon spokesman Col. Dave Lapan
stated last September in Washington, We have made no secret of the fact that
Irans missile program is a reason for concern, referring to the Kürecik radars
potential focus on Iran. However, Turkey insisted on the removal of a statement at the November 2010
NATO summit in Lisbon that labeled Iran as one of the potential threats against
which the radar could be used, to block a possible nuclear assault. Turkey objected
to wording that labeled its neighbor as a threat. Some Iranian officials said that, if
attacked by Israel, they would target defense installations in Turkey. We are closely monitoring relations with Turkey in the national security
commission in [Iranian] Parliament. Iran has warned Turkey before that the
deployment of the system will have grave consequences, Hossein Ibrahimi, vice
president of Iranian Parliaments National Security and Foreign Policy Commission,
stated last December. The NATO defense system, of which Turkeys Kürecik is a part,
contains ground-based missile interceptors based in Romania and Poland, four missile defense ships in Spains Rota Naval Station and its headquarters are in
Germany. The NATO defense system agreement is comprised of several phases, including
construction of the Kürecik radar and the USS Monterrey naval vessel, deployed in
the Mediterranean Sea, as interceptors against any regional missile threat. In the
next phases, land-based interceptors are planned to be deployed in Romania in
2015 and more advanced interceptors are planned to be built in Poland in 2018. The
defense system has been threatened by Russia, which claims that it is actually a deterrent for Russian nuclear capabilities. Russia perceives the prospective missile
defense sites to be built in 2015 and 2018, which would focus on defenses in
Eastern Europe, as a threat. In order to address that threat, NATO offered to integrate
Russia into the system, but Russia has asserted that they should have joint
command-and-control of the system.
In fact, US and Turkey crack is getting bigger. As for Xinjiang problem , China has already make it very clear to Turkish. If Turkey think Uyghur shall go independant and Kurd in Turkey shall go independent too. Does Turkish agree that? Definitely, No!
knows his country's importance for NATO and the west and throwing around his weight.
