Tag: U.S. Radar

Turkey has no place for American radar

© Collage: “The Voice of Russia”

In Turkey a wave of protests is rising against the elements of the NATO missile defense system to be stationed there.

Turkish political activists and the public at large as well as the mass media are actively discussing the protest action organized by a group of representatives from Turkey’s opposition Republican People’s Party led by the party deputy head Emine Ulker Tarhan. The parliamentarians arrived at the Kurecik village where the main radar of the NATO missile defense system is stationed and met with the local citizens. The place is located 550 km from the Iranian border and 150 km from the border with Syria. During the protest meeting Emine Tarhan made the following statement:

«We are against the war. The radar you see here for us is a symbol of war. And as mothers we do not want to see symbols of war from other countries on our territory. There is no place for them on the Turkish territory».

The citizens of the Kurecik village and seven other surrounding villages supported the parliamentarian and spoke against the missile defense radar’s location in their neighborhood.

The Kepez village headman Kemal Koroglu reminded other participants that local population already had negative experience with such neighbors. In the 1960s NATO radar aimed against the Soviet Union was stationed in that very district. Back then a rise in cancer occurrence among local population was registered. And the present radar has a lot more powerful. According to the popular Turkish Haber Turk newspaper, there is a real threat of radiation poisoning. “The 1960s were years of the Cold War, are we really going back to that period of confrontation?” – says a frequently cited village teacher Huseyin Nazlyer.

A well-known Turkish political analyst Turgay Turker gave his assessment of the situation with the American radar in an exclusive interview to the Voice of Russia. He pointed out the foreign policy aspect of its location on the Turkish territory. «It is well known that the Government announced the policy of «zero problems with the neighbors». But as everybody is convinced, the radar’s location in Turkey is primarily targeted against our neighbor Iran, although the signed documents do not mention that. How can our relations with Iran develop after that? How can we talk about «zero problems» taking into account the tough statements against Turkey already made by Iranian top officials», said Turgay Turker.

The Turkish political analyst believes that the Russian factor is also important. «Russia, our strategic partner, also firmly spoke against the NATO missile defense system. Moscow is ready to locate its modern missile systems in the south of the country in order to be able to destroy the elements of the European missile defense. In means that the US radar in Kurecik can become the target of the Russian missiles», stressed Turgay Turker.

In that event does Ankara really need the radar that pushes Turkey into a severe standoff with its neighbors and profitable partners such as Russia and Iran? Ordinary Turkish citizens as well as the parliamentarians of the country say today that «there is no place for the American radar on Turkish land. We don’t want the return of the Cold War».

via Turkey has no place for American radar: Voice of Russia.

March 15, 2012
Turkey’s decision to host NATO radar system, a miscalculation: Ahmadinejad

TEHRAN – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said that Turkey decided to host an early warning radar as part of NATO’s missile defense system due to a miscalculation.

“NATO is seeking to expand its presence in the region and it has made the necessary political and military preparations,” Ahmadinejad stated during a televised interview broadcast live on Iranian television on Tuesday night.

“The shield will be stationed in Turkey mostly to save the Zionists so that they (the Western powers) will be able to react and prevent Iran’s missiles from reaching the occupied territories in the event they take a military action against Iran and Iran launches a missile attack reciprocally,” the president commented.

“In the negotiations we held with the Turkish side, we emphasized that it is a wrong measure since the Zionists will ultimately be gone, and such shields will not affect the survival of the Zionists,” Ahmadinejad stated.

Government not involved in fraud case

Elsewhere in the interview, Ahmadinejad commented on the recent $2.6 billion financial fraud case and said that the government was not involved in the scam.

However, certain people have said that the mastermind behind the fraud had links with Presidential Office Chief of Staff Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaii.

In addition, 11 lawmakers had filed a complaint with the Majlis Article 90 Committee against the president but later decided not to pursue the complaint after the Supreme Leader advised officials on October 3 to help pursue the case in an atmosphere of calm.

The president said, “Although the case occurred in the banking system, some thought that they have found an opportunity to settle old scores with Ahmadinejad. However, the government did not have any role in the incident, and the banking system detected the case.”

Ahmadinejad also said that he will keep silence in the face of criticisms leveled at the government over the financial corruption case.

He went on to say that pursuing issues relating to the banking system does not fall within the ambit of the administration.

Ahmadinejad also said that those involved in the case should be seriously dealt with, adding that the three branches of the government are determined to take measures to root out financial corruption.

On the close-door meeting that the three branches of the government held on Tuesday, he said that the issue of the recent fraud case and a number of other matters were discussed during the meeting.

via Turkey’s decision to host NATO radar system, a miscalculation: Ahmadinejad – Tehran Times.

October 6, 2011
Turkey’s NATO radar to protect arch-foe: Iran

Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad criticises ‘brother’ Turkey for hosting an early-warning NATO radar as it protects the anti-Iranian Israeli state

AFP , Thursday 22 Sep 2011

Ahmadinejad

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrives for the 66th session of the General Assembly at the United Nations headquarters Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2011 (Photo:AP)

Turkey’s hosting an early-warning radar as part of NATO’s missile defence system is to protect Iran’s arch-foe Israel, the official IRNA news agency cited the defence minister as saying on Thursday.

“Installation of the radar system is to defend the Zionist regime since this regime is on a downhill trajectory and America has been forced to get involved directly to save it,” Ahmad Vahidi said.

“We will not allow any foreign forces to threaten our interests and we will strongly confront any threat,” he added on the sidelines of a military parade marking the 31st anniversary of the start of a bloody eight-year war with Iraq.

Tehran has toughened its criticism of the Turkish plan to host the early warning radar system allocated by the United States to NATO, with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad criticising “brother” Turkey.

Other officials in the Islamic republic have said the deployment would create tension and lead to “complicated consequences.”

Leaders of the 28-member NATO alliance gave their backing last year for the Europe-wide ballistic missile shield, which US officials say is aimed at thwarting missile threats from the Middle East, particularly Iran.

On September 9, the foreign ministry in Ankara said the early warning radar will be deployed at a military facility base in Kurecik near Malatya in the southeast.

Tehran has made maintaining a good relations with Ankara a priority in recent years, and has considered Turkey an ally for its refusal to implement Western sanctions against Tehran over its controversial nuclear programme.

Tehran does not recognise the Jewish state, and Ahmadinejad has repeatedly dubbed the Holocaust a “lie” which he said was used as an excuse for Israel’s creation.

via Turkey’s NATO radar to protect arch-foe: Iran – Region – World – Ahram Online.

September 23, 2011
Turkey Accepts Missile Radar for NATO Defense – NYTimes.com

By THOM SHANKER

WASHINGTON — The final legal and diplomatic building blocks fell into place this week for the Obama administration’s rejiggered defense of Europe against a potential Iranian missile attack. Romania signed a deal for 24 interceptor missiles to be based there, and Turkey officially agreed to have in its territory a sophisticated American radar system that could be on the watch by the end of the year.

American officials called the deal with Turkey the most significant military cooperation between Washington and Ankara since 2003, when Turkish officials infuriated their American counterparts by refusing to allow an armored division to cross Turkish territory to join the invasion of Iraq.

“This is probably the biggest strategic decision between the United States and Turkey in the past 15 or 20 years,” one senior administration official said Thursday at a White House briefing meant to call attention to the developments.

Turkish officials were careful in their comments to avoid identifying Iran as the specific threat motivating their decision to join NATO’s American-designed missile shield. But Turkey is worried by Iran’s evolving missile capabilities and by signs that Tehran has secretly supported the bloody crackdown on protesters in Syria. (Iran crushed its own pro-democracy demonstrations in 2009.)

There were hurdles to the deal. The Turkish news media published objections to the sharing of information gathered by the American radar with Israel. Relations between Turkey and Israel, once fairly close, soured badly after the Israeli government refused to apologize for the deadly assault last year on a flotilla trying to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza.

Still, senior administration officials said Thursday that the United States had not agreed to any restrictions. The data from the radar in Turkey — combined with an array of other data and American intelligence assessments of missile threats — will be shared with allies, including Israel, in keeping with longstanding arrangements, officials said.

“It’s a U.S. radar,” said one senior official.

The official said Turkey’s cooperation on missile defense would contribute to its own security and strengthen ties between Turkey, the only predominantly Muslim NATO member, and its Atlantic allies. The White House insisted that the officials not be identified.

The radar will be placed at a Turkish installation about 435 miles from Iran, officials said. A similar American missile-defense radar already operates in Israel.

Iranian officials have said the American-led missile-defense initiative will increase tensions and destabilize the region. Russia’s response to American proposals for a European missile-defense system has ranged from virulent objections to hints of cooperation, perhaps merely the sharing of information.

“The architecture of the system is designed to provide the optimal protection against ballistic missile threats from the Middle East, from Iran in particular,” said one senior administration official. “The system is not in any way directed against Russia.”

President Obama ordered a significant redesign of the European missile-defense architecture he inherited from George W. Bush, who favored placing interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar system in the Czech Republic.

Mr. Obama decided to move the system closer to Iran and build it faster, in part because Iran already fields mainly shorter-range missiles. He sped up deployment of Navy Aegis-equipped warships armed with their own radar and interceptor missiles to the Mediterranean Sea. One such ship, the U.S.S. Monterey, is there today, officials said.

The missiles scheduled for Romania are to be installed by 2015, and 24 interceptors are planned for Poland by 2018. They would be upgraded on a schedule to match American intelligence assessments of Iran’s ability to field missiles of increasing range.

A version of this article appeared in print on September 16, 2011, on page A8 of the New York edition with the headline: U.S. Hails Deal With Turkey on Missile Shield.

via Turkey Accepts Missile Radar for NATO Defense – NYTimes.com.

September 16, 2011
Turkey Under Fire For Hosting NATO Radar Protecting… Israel?

Turkey’s collapsing relations with Israel over the past week or so have occasioned a new round of hand-wringing about whether the West is losing Turkey. But that drama has overshadowed another, countervailing, development: Turkey’s agreement to host a NATO air defense radar. This has recently been one of the most sensitive Turkey-NATO issues; NATO wanted Turkey to host the system, but Turkey didn’t want it to explicitly target Iran, even though it is obvious to everyone that that’s the threat the system is intended to protect against.

But for whatever reason, the Turkish government has changed its mind, agreeing to host the radar and even (in a somewhat between-the-lines fashion) acknowledging that it has to do with Iran:

“We are of the opinion that the step taken [in deploying the radar system] is important for our region. That’s why we, as the government, have decided [to station the system in Turkey] after broad consultations,” Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said late Tuesday.

That has bolstered Turkey’s relationship with NATO, argues Lale Kemal in Today’s Zaman:

Turkey’s decision to host on its soil the radar component of a US-sponsored missile shield project should be seen as a political decision reaffirming Ankara’s ties with NATO. This decision comes at a time when the alliance has begun to perceive Turkish foreign policy goals as a deviating from those of the Western club. One Western official commented on the Turkish decision to host the missile defense radar saying, “Turkey is back in the club.”

And of course, the move has annoyed Iran and (to a lesser degree) in Russia. And Turkey’s opposition also has taken the opportunity to criticize the government — ironically, given everything else that’s going on, for taking Israel’s security more seriously than its own. From another Today’s Zaman article:

“We don’t believe it appropriate for Turkey to take such a step without any questioning. This system is directly designed as a shield against missile systems targeting Israel. Taking this step without informing the public sufficiently shows that Turkey’s foreign policy is now not centered in Ankara but instead that the government is assuming a foreign policy based on international interests. If a threat really stems from Iran, the government should clearly explain the extent of this threat. The government’s decision will make Turkey a target for missiles. We are convinced that the government’s move is related to Washington’s interests rather than Turkey’s security and that this step is being taken in line with Israeli demands,” [MHP parliamentary group deputy chairman Oktay] Vural said.

So is Turkey kowtowing to the West and Israel, or turning against them? Or, is all of this evidence that Turkey is moving towards being neither solely “Eastern” or “Western” but something all its own?

via Turkey Under Fire For Hosting NATO Radar Protecting… Israel? | EurasiaNet.org.

September 13, 2011
‘Muslim countries should not advance NATO’s interests’

TEHRAN – Iranian MP Alaeddin Boroujerdi has advised Muslim countries in the region not to take measures that would serve the interests of the NATO alliance.

Boroujerdi, who is the chairman of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, made the remarks in an interview with the Mehr News Agency published on Sunday in reference to the fact that Turkey has agreed to host an early warning radar as part of NATO’s missile defense system, which is ostensibly meant to counter an alleged ballistic missile threat from Iran.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry announced on September 2 that negotiations over NATO’s anti-missile shield had reached “their final stages.”

However, Turkey did not say when or where the U.S. early warning radar would be stationed, according to the Guardian.

Boroujerdi said, “Muslim countries should maintain security in the region through reliance on their capabilities and cooperation and should not allow a situation to develop where insecurity prevails in the region and NATO’s interests in the region are served by Muslim countries.”

He added, “The Islamic Republic of Iran has the necessary capability to safeguard its security,” and such measures will not deter it.

“NATO not only does not contribute to regional security but is also a major source of insecurity in the region,” Boroujerdi stated.

“NATO’s intervention in Afghanistan and Iraq illustrated the fact that NATO is only pursuing its own interests in the region.

“NATO’s intervention in Libya also proved that NATO has no respect for Muslim countries,” Boroujerdi added.

via ‘Muslim countries should not advance NATO’s interests’ – Tehran Times.

September 5, 2011