CNN.com
November 8, 2012 Thursday 10:08 PM EST
Turkey mulls defensive measures on Syrian border
By Gul Tuysuz and Ivan Watson, CNN
Istanbul
Turkey is drawing up contingency plans with the NATO military alliance
to fortify its border with Syria, and a Patriot missile deployment is
one option on the table, Turkish officials say.
Turkish President Abdullah Gul told reporters Thursday that due to the
ongoing civil war in Syria and its possible repercussions for
NATO-member Turkey, every measure was being considered to counter the
risks.
Discussions have been ongoing “within NATO… in terms of defensive
measures” and many defensive scenarios are being looked at as a
precaution, Gul said when asked whether Turkey was seeking to acquire
Patriot missiles from NATO.
Read more: Report: 33 Syrian army members defect to Turkey
International and Turkish media reported Wednesday that the government
planned to ask NATO to station Patriot missiles along the border with
Syria, but the prime minister denied the report.
“We have not made such a request. Let me be clear, we are not thinking
about or in a position to buy Patriots at this time,” Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters during a visit to Bali
Wednesday. He seemed angry about the media reports, insisting that the
foreign ministry official said to be the source for the information
had no right to make such a statement.
Read more: Turkey strikes targets in Syria in retaliation for shelling deaths
Ankara has been careful to note that it does not plan to take
offensive action and does not want a war with its southern neighbor,
with which it shares a 822-kilometer (about 511-mile) border.
“It is out of the question that Turkey has any intention of going to
war with Syria. I hope that it is also out of the question for Syria
to engage in this kind of inconceivable action toward Turkey,” said
Gul.
“But when there are these types of last-minute developments, when
these types of potential risks are present, undoubtedly all sorts of
precautions are taken in these situations. One of these precautions is
against ballistic missiles as well as mid-range and near-range
missiles,” he added.
The U.S.-made Patriot missile system — which became well-known during
the first Gulf War, when it was used to protect American allies
against Iraqi Scud missiles — works well against short- and
medium-range missiles.
Read more: Turkey deploys troops, tanks to Syrian border
Two decades later, reports about the possible deployment of Patriots
have emerged as tensions steadily escalate between two other Middle
Eastern neighbors.
Schools were closed in the Turkish border town of Ceylanpinar Thursday
as intense fighting raged in the area between loyalist Syrian forces
and fighters from the rebel Free Syrian Army.
“We can hear the sounds of fighting. The town is very quiet today, not
a lot of stores opened up,” said Mehmet Saitavci, a neighborhood mayor
from Ceylanpinar.
“People here have a lot of relatives on the other side and they are
coming up to the border and the Turkish military takes them and brings
them into Turkey. We were told we can have our relatives be our guests
for a few days by the municipal mayor,” said Saitavci, who also
reported that two Turks were injured, but not seriously, due to stray
gunfire.
Last month, Syrian artillery shells hit the Turkish border town of
Akcakale, killing five Turkish citizens. Soon after, the Turkish
parliament approved a resolution that would allow the military to
carry out cross-border incursions. Since that deadly incident, Turkish
officials have confirmed more than a dozen cross-border artillery
strikes believed to have been carried out by the Syrian military. In
each case, Turkish forces retaliated swiftly against Syria using
artillery.
Last June, Syrian anti-aircraft defenses shot down a Turkish military
reconnaissance jet, killing two pilots, after it briefly crossed into
Syrian airspace in the eastern Mediterranean Sea.
Today, Turkey is adamant that its airspace not be used to supply the
military of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. An Armenian plane headed
for Syria landed in the Turkish city of Erzurum for a “technical
inspection” Thursday.
Read more: Al-Assad: I wish the Turkish jet shootdown didn’t happen
“We are allowing the humanitarian aid to go in Syria. So it was agreed
beforehand. They knew and agreed to land,” a Turkish foreign ministry
official wrote to CNN, on condition of anonymity.
A similar flight was also asked to land in Turkey for inspection of
its cargo last month. In that case, Armenian officials confirmed that
the Turkish search was part of a scheduled stop.
But just a few days before the Armenian flight was stopped, a Syrian
passenger plane from Russia was forced to land, with Turkish F-16s
escorting it to a runway in the Turkish capital. Turkish authorities
announced they suspected the aircraft of carrying military equipment
to Damascus. Turkish authorities later confiscated military equipment
from a Russian arms manufacturer that was addressed to the Syrian
defense ministry.
Once cozy relations between Syria and Turkey have all but collapsed
since the Syrian uprising began more than 19 months ago. Turkey is
officially hosting more than 111,000 refugees, but the Turkish
government says tens of thousands of unofficial refugees also live in
Turkish cities and towns near the Syrian border.
Meanwhile, Damascus has repeatedly accused its former ally of meddling
in internal Syrian affairs by funding and arming the Syrian
opposition, as well as providing sanctuary and medical care to Syrian
rebels.
Turkish, American and British diplomats are attending a Syrian
opposition conference in Qatar this week, part of a U.S.-backed
initiative to reorganize and restructure the fractured opposition
movement.