Ankara reportedly asks NATO for Patriot deployment extension

PanARMENIAN.Net - Ankara has reportedly asked NATO to extend the deployment of Patriot missiles for another year.

With the request lodged, NATO still has not made a decision, Hürriyet Daily News quoted a Turkish official as saying.

Turkey, a NATO member, appealed to the Alliance last year for the protection of its border from any threats derived from Syria. The Netherlands, Germany and the United States deployed to the southern city of Adana and the southeastern cities of Kahramanmaraş and Gaziantep under the command of the Supreme Allied Commander Europe.

Turkey asked for protection from its NATO allies after a mortar bomb fired from Syrian territory killed five Turkish civilians in the border town of Akçakale in October last year.

Originally used as an anti-aircraft missile, Patriots today are used to defend airspace by detecting and destroying incoming missiles.