Posted on 10/18/2010 9:26:51 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
Turkey's Islamist-rooted government faces making a difficult decision that pits maintaining good relations with its neighbours against joining a NATO missile shield directed against Iran.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has sought in recent years to boost Turkey's ties in the region -- raising suspicions he is moving the country out of the West's orbit -- and will now have to make a decision that will be viewed as a test of its commitment to its NATO partners.
The US plan to build a network of ballistic missile interceptors in Europe has been taken up by NATO, partly in order to convince reluctant members of the alliance to join the project.
The Turkish government will have to stop fence-sitting soon as NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen wants a final decision on the missile shield to be made at a summit of the alliance's leaders on November 19 and 20 in Lisbon.
The United States says the shield is meant to protect against an eventual missile strike from Iran, but has been vociferously opposed by Moscow, which fears it could undermine its nuclear deterrent.
This poses a problem for Ankara, which fears joining the missile shield will damage relations with Moscow and Tehran, which have improved considerably in recent years, according to analysts.
"It is a dilemma for Turkey. On one hand you have a policy of maintaining friendship with our neighbours, and on the other you are going to be deploying arms which target them," said Sinan Ogan, director of the Turksam think tank in Ankara.
When the defence and foreign ministers of Turkey and the United States met Thursday in Brussels on the sidelines of a NATO summit, the missile shield was at the centre of the talks, Turkish media reported, with Turkish officials still "reserved" about joining the
(Excerpt) Read more at defencetalk.com ...
Who thinks it is a good idea to trust muslims with any part of strategic defense? Whatever they receive from us will eventually be withheld from us or used against us.
Turkey is a bloody Islamist nation. They cannot be trusted to do anything except deceive and betray.
IF it goes in, then expect them to unplug it/destroy it/ disarm it at the critical moment by the direction of Tehran.
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