NATO to boost Turkey's air defenses

BRUSSELS

NATO allies are seeking to send aircrafts and command ships to Turkey in an attempt to boost the country’s defense capabilities, said Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday.

The U.K. will provide aircrafts to Turkey’s Incirlik Airbase in Adana while Germany and Denmark will supply command ships to NATO forces in the Mediterranean. Spain is also providing Patriot missile batteries in southern Turkey.

While NATO has increased air defenses for Turkey for many years, the downing of the Russian warplane, which violated the ally’s airspace on Nov.24, has fueled NATO support.

"This is something we have been working on long before the incident and is separate from the incident," Stoltenberg told reporters Tuesday following a NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels.

"I think the focus now should be on how we can de-escalate, how we can calm tensions, and how we can address the need to improve, strengthen mechanisms to avoid that kind of incidents that we saw last week," Stoltenberg said.

Russian warplanes previously violated Turkish airspace twice in October. The incidents came within a few days of the start of Russia’s air campaign in Syria on Sept. 30 and led to international condemnation.