BRUSSELS
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.
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 They were never used and were quietly withdrawn a few months later.
Reporting by Feyzullah Yarimbas
