Patriots expected to be in Turkey in Dec.

Patriot missiles, Turkey formally requested from NATO on Wednesday for deploying on its Syria border for defence purposes, are expected to arrive in Turkey in mid-December, Anadolu agency reported.

Diplomatic sources said Turkey's request was approved at a meeting of the ambassadors of the 28 member states that make up the top council on Wednesday and the missiles were expected to arrive in Turkey in mid-December.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said a joint team would visit Turkey next week to conduct a site survey for the possible deployment of the Patriots.

After the deployment plans would be ready, the approval of the NATO and its 3 members which have Patriot missiles, the US, Germany and Netherlands would be waited. NATO sources said all 3 of them would support Turkey.

NATO allies installed the long-range Patriot missiles on Turkish territory twice before, during the 1991 and 2003 Iraq wars. They were never used and were quietly withdrawn a few months later.


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