One foot of the much disputed NATO "Missile Defence System" will be established in Turkey. A memorandum of understanding was signed by USA Ambassador to Turkey Francis Ricciardone and Turkish Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Siniroğlu on Wednesday (14 September).
Turkey is going to a deploy early warning radar in Malatya (eastern Anatolia) as part of the Missile Shield. The memorandum was signed by the US American Ambassador because the NATO-backed shield will be assigned by the USA, it was reported.
Strategic location of Malatya
The location of the radar was officially ascertained in the Kürecik township in the eastern province of Malatya instead of Diyarbakır as reported earlier. A military base was established in Kürecik by the USA in the past and later on handed over to the Turkish Armed Forces. According to a statement of the Foreign Ministry, the base has been used for similar purposes before.
As reported in the press, Malatya was of strategic importance because both the eastern Mediterranean region and the area east of Turkey could be controlled from there.
The radar system to be established in Kürecik will be attached to a hub in Germany but Turkey will have a say in its control as well. A Turkish general will be on duty at the central office in Germany.
In the course of negotiations before signing the memorandum, NATO had informed Turkey that the defence system included radar as well as war ships equipped with missile launch pads of the AEGIS system to respond to threats.
Build-up of arms has begun
In the meantime, Russia announced its discontent with the latest developments of this issue. The Russian Foreign Ministry mentioned in an announcement both the agreement signed with Romania in the context of the missile shield and the agreement on the radar base to be established in Turkey. The ministry said that the developments "showed an implementation of the Missile Shield project according to schedule". The developments were criticized on the background of lacking progress in the negotiations going on within the triangle of NATO, the USA and Russia. It was said that Russia assessed the Missile Shield project as a threat against their own country and hence a new rearmament was being initiated. Armament had reached its peak during the Cold War between the USA and the former Soviet Union when missiles with all types of heads including nuclear were deployed all over the world. (YY/VK)
