Turkey refuses to conclude a bilateral agreement with the United States to deploy anti-missile radar base designed to provide coverage of Iranian short and medium-range missiles and to replace a similar facility, previously projected for the Czech Republic. According to the British <b> The Financial Times </b>, Ankara is reluctant to host a radar base unless other Nato countries also increase support for the system.

Turkey seeks to maintain balanced relations with both U.S. and Iran, and therefore does not want to deploy radar aimed against Tehran. Turkey is sensitive about how its potential participation might be perceived, in the case of embedding the system in its territory, the radar should become a part of a broader Nato framework, funded from the budget of NATO, the newspaper said.