Turkey disagrees missile threat from Syria 'low'

ANKARA

Turkey disagrees with the perception that the threat of a ballistic missile attack from Syria is low, defense minister said on Friday.

Speaking to the press after meeting NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, Fikri Isik said Turkey would consider bolstering its air defenses if such threats continued.

“We do not agree with some estimation the ballistic missiles threat from Syria is low,” Isik said.

Last year in August, a NATO official -- on condition of anonymity -- said: "While the current threat posed by Syrian missiles to Turkey is assessed as low, a risk remains that missiles launched against opposition forces inside Syria could fall into Turkey."

Berlin also said last year that it would end its Patriot contribution by the beginning of 2016 because the threat to Turkey from Syrian ballistic missiles was “low”.

The Syrian regime has fired hundreds of ballistic missiles over the last few years with some hitting neighboring countries, including Turkey.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011 when the regime of Bashar al-Assad cracked down on pro-democracy protests.

Meanwhile, Isik expressed his pleasure to see NATO chief in Turkey in wake of the defeated coup, saying the bid -- organized by the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) -- failed because Turkish people protected their democracy.

“Our nation’s unique, heroic and epic democratic stance strengthened our unity [and] solidarity more during this attempt, which was organized by some traitors in our Turkish Armed Forces,” he said.

Isik underlined that Turkey’s commitments to its allies, including NATO, would continue.

The Turkish government has said U.S.-based Fetullah Gulen had organized the July 15 coup attempt, which left 240 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.

Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania since 1997, is also accused of implementing a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary, forming what is commonly known as the parallel state.