Asia-Pacific
US calls on Turkey to back NATO missile defense plans
(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-10-19 09:54
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ASHINGTON - The United States called on Turkey on Monday to back NATO's proposed missile defense system and take steps to counter growing resistance in the US Congress to any future sale of drone aircraft.
A long-time NATO member that aspires to join the European Union, Turkey must decide at a NATO summit in Lisbon next month whether to support a missile defense system that it fears could be seen as a program aimed against Iran - a neighboring Islamic state which has deepened its ties with Ankara.
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, speaking at an event in Washington on US-Turkey relations, acknowledged ongoing talks with Ankara about Turkey's potential "technical and operational contributions" to a missile shield.
Still, Gates rejected media reports that Washington was pressuring Ankara to take part in the system, amid speculation Turkey might host an installation known as an X-Band radar.
"Contrary to some press reports, we are not pressuring Turkey to make a contribution," Gates said, addressing a conference on US-Turkish relations in Washington.
"But we do look to Turkey to support NATO's adoption at the Lisbon summit of a territorial missile defense capability."
Assistant Secretary of Defense Alexander Vershbow, without naming the missile defense issue outright, called on Ankara to "demonstrate publicly" that bilateral and NATO alliance relations were moving forward.
Drones
He warned that the mood in Congress, which has oversight of US weapons sales, soured over Ankara's refusal to vote for UN sanctions against Iran and from fallout from an Israeli commando raid in May on a Turkish-backed aid ships en route to the Gaza trip.
"Unfortunately, Turkey's statements and actions last spring regarding Israel and Iran have contributed to a political environment in which it may be more difficult to move forward, at least in the short term, on some important projects that the administration supports," Vershbow said.
A US defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, later clarified that the projects Vershbow had referred to were the sale of pilotless drone aircraft.
"With a historic NATO summit just a month away, we should seize the opportunity to publicly demonstrate our commitment to one another," Vershbow said.
In Ankara, a Turkish Foreign Ministry official told Reuters: "We do not lean towards the idea of defining countries like Iran, Syria and Russia as threats."
Turkey's Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul has said Ankara was also seeking an agreement on technical issues, including how the NATO-wide shield system would affect Turkey's missile system and if it would cover the entire country.
Speaking at the same event as Gates on Monday, Gonul said he welcomed the US approach to the missile system "which in our view should be developed within the NATO context." But he said the NATO shield should be designed to counter "the full range of ballistic missile threats."
Stephen Flanagan, a Turkey expert at the Center for Strategic International Studies, a Washington think-tank, said Gonul's comments were a sign that Ankara was still not 100 percent on board.
"What they don't want is a headline out of Lisbon that says: NATO agrees to anti-Iran missile defense system," Flanagan said.