(File photo) Turkish soldiers stand guard in Akcakale by the
Turkish-Syria border on October 4, 2012
Istanbul (CNN) -- 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
Turkey-Syria
ties strained by violence
Armed
conflict risk between Turkey-Syria
Turkish
shells rain on Syria
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.
"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.
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