US says Turkey did not reject missile system yet

Gordon said it was not true that Turkey refused to participate.

Friday, 29 October 2010 12:48

U.S Assistant Secretary of State Philip Gordon said neither Turkey nor any other country rejected participation or support for the missile system proposed to be deployed in Europe under NATO roof.

In an exclusive interview with Gazeta.Ru last Tuesday, Gordon was asked to comment on “Turkey’s recent refusal to participate in the proposed missile defense system? What about the Czech Republic and Poland?”

Gordon said it was not true that Turkey refused to participate.

“There is an ongoing discussion about whether to adopt territorial missile defense as a mission for NATO, and the United States has offered and made a specific offer of its phased adaptive approach, which would be the U.S. contribution to that European missile defense if allies so choose. Neither Turkey nor anyone else has rejected participation or support for that. It is a matter of discussion among allies that will be agreed we hope at the NATO Summit in Lisbon,” Gordon was quoted as saying.

He said it was a matter of discussion among allies expressing his hope that it will be agreed on the upcoming NATO Summit in Lisbon.

“And we are talking to Turkey as with our other allies about the adoption of a territorial missile defense for NATO. We are hopeful all allies will agree to such a mission because we think that it is a real issue and that missile defense can contribute to our security,” said Gordon.

Foreign and defense ministers of the NATO member countries gathered on october 13 in Brussels and discussed the missile defense system the U.S. wants to deploy in Europe under the roof of NATO.

Earlier Turkish Defense Minister Gonul said the phased adaptive approach proposed by the United States should be developed within the context of NATO, as a valuable contribution to the security of the Alliance, emphasizing that Turkey welcomed the proposed system under NATO.

The U.S. who has been talking to Poland, Czech Republic, Romania and Bulgaria against the so-called missile threat from what it regards as “rogue states” and

wants to deploy it under the auspices of NATO.

The fate of the missile defense system proposed under NATO roof will be decided at the Lisbon summit which will be held on November 19-20.

AA