Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 17
By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:
It's strange that against the background of placing the military air base of Incirlik into the fight against the "Islamic State" in Syria, countries such as the United States and Germany announced the removal of the Patriot missile defense system on the border with Syria in October.
This is due to the fact that Ankara is supposedly using the system to combat against the PKK.
This system was deployed in Turkey in order to protect the country from a possible missile attack on Turkey from Syria. The Patriot missile system was deployed in Turkey at the request of Ankara back in 2012. But in spite of its deployment, Turkey was partially exposed to rocket attacks from Syria.
So, the Patriot air defense system wasn't fully protecting Turkey's territory, and it is worth noting that this same system was also meant to defend the Incirlik military air base.
No matter how much Turkey's army is able to confront threats from Syrian territory, the withdrawal of Patriot system from Turkey is not in Ankara's interests, although the authorities haven't yet commented on the matter.
And this is while Turkish authorities have said that the Syrian government is the biggest threat to Turkey, as Ankara believes that Damascus created fertile soil for gathering of terrorists in Syria.
Turkish military experts said that Shahab medium-range missiles (made in Iran), possessed by the Syrian authorities, are a real danger for Turkey.
Moreover, the experts said that Turkey was mainly shelled from the Syrian city of Tartus, controlled by the authorities.
The PKK's intensified activity, as well as Iran's active support for the Syrian authorities amid a military operation against the Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq says that more serious unrest is expected to occur in the region and taking the Patriot missile long-range air-defense system out of Turkey is nothing more than to leave Ankara to the mercy of fate.
Edited by CN
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Rufiz Hafizoglu is the head of Trend Agency's Arabic news service, follow him on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
