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| Europe |
| German soldiers 'ready to defend Turkish border' |
| 2012-11-20 |
| German soldiers and missiles seem likely to be posted to Turkey’s border with Syria soon. One report suggested the government was checking the legality of such a posting, ahead of a Turkish request expected on Monday. The Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper reported on Saturday that government officials were discussing whether a parliamentary mandate would be needed to send the 170 soldiers which would be needed to staff two Patriot missile units as part of a NATO mission. The Turkish government said ten days ago it wanted the air defence missiles for its border with Syria, where rockets from the civil-war-wracked country have killed several civilians. As a NATO member, Turkey can call upon other members to help defend its borders and is expected to do so on Monday. Only three NATO countries – the US, Netherlands and Germany - have the most advanced Patriot models, the PAC-3, which can be used against planes as well as rockets, the paper said. And the German government is convinced it should contribute to such a NATO operation – Defence Minister Thomas de Maizière said as much on Thursday after a meeting with French, Polish, Italian and Spanish colleagues, the Süddeutsche Zeitung reported. De Maizière stressed such an operation would only be to defend Turkey, and that German forces would not take any part in the Syrian civil war. Initially, because the shift of rockets and soldiers would be within the NATO area, no parliamentary mandate would be needed to move them to Turkey, the paper said. But should the soldiers be in danger of becoming involved in fighting, such a mandate would be necessary – and the opposition could demand that in advance. It remained unclear on Friday how many troops NATO would consider moving to Turkey. Germany’s airforce has 24 deployable units, each requiring 85 soldiers. A certain, secret, number of these are registered as ready for action as part of the NATO Response Force, and could be deployed within ten days of an order being given, the paper said. Turkey's border with Syria has been the site of missile strikes and fighting linked to the Syrian civil war. The government has accepted hundreds of thousands of Syrian civil war refugees, but is having difficulty providing for them and has already asked Germany and other countries for help. |
| Posted by:Au Auric |
| #8 Wasn't one of the islamic nutgobs Mr. Hun is deriding us for letting in _from_ Germany, where he was an architect? |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2012-11-20 19:57 |
| #7 German soldiers were not available for comment |
| Posted by: European Conservatives 2012-11-20 19:09 |
| #6 "The Germans would do well to defend their own borders, instead of letting Islamic nutjobs move there" At least we don't have president who is a muslim? How many Islamic nutjobs have we let in? How many people killed in our cities by Saudi Arabians we trained to fly planes? People in glass houses and all that. And for the record, I don't want to see our troops anywhere near Syria! |
| Posted by: HunWithGun 2012-11-20 19:06 |
| #5 The Germans would do well to defend their own borders, instead of letting Islamic nutjobs move there (and probably giving them welfare too). You think the Baader-Meinhof gang was a PITA*? You ain't seen nothing yet. Still think the EU and the Euro was a good idea? *Pain In The Ass |
| Posted by: Barbara 2012-11-20 13:01 |
| #4 Going after the cat's paw, Syria, instead of the cat, Iran. Likely to get scratched. |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2012-11-20 11:31 |
| #3 Time to pull out of Turkey and I guess Incirlik too. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2012-11-20 08:08 |
| #2 |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2012-11-20 01:04 |
| #1 In a worst-case = SHTF scenario they may end up looking thru the binoculars at enemies whom are also RUSSIAN TROOPS. D *** NG IT, THE ABOVE SOUNDS FAMILIAR BUT WHERE? WHEN?, in histoire'??? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2012-11-20 00:54 |