ISTANBUL (AA) - March 27, 2013 - The representative of National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces (SMDK) in Turkey Khaled Hodja said "Our demand is legitimate on a totally humanitarian and conscientious axis" regarding NCSRO Leader Moaz al Khatib's demand of Patriot missile defense systems.
Hodja, stating that they demanded anti-tank and anti-aircraft guided weapons in order to prevent Assad regime's massacres, said "Assad regime is attacking Idlib and Haleppo's countrysides with Scud missiles. Sometimes Scuds target Haleppo's city center."
Hodja claimed that Khatib's Patriot demand aims at protecting the civillians, and added "This demand must not be ignored for the sake of political calculations."
"We do not want to see any foreign soldier in our country, neither American nor Russian and Iranian" said Hodja, while he called international community's help to gain an equal ground vis a vis the Assad regime in order to keep the struggle on.
Khatib had asked for an extension of the shield provided by Patriot positions on the Turkish border during his address to the 24th Arab League Summit on March 26.
-NATO's cool response-
In response, NATO had stated that they do not intend a military action in Syria.
Commander of European Command and as Supreme Allied Commander Admiral James Stavridis was the first NATO official to talk about the possibility of NATO's military action in Syria.
In his speech on March 20, Stavridis had mentioned that options like 'no-fly zone, arming the opposition, bringing the arms embargos into force' were not NATO's 'common stance'. On the other hand, Stavridis had said that the Patriots in Turkey could be placed in a way to pull down Syrian aircrafts. However he had added that this would require consensus among NATO members, which seemed as a far possibility by the time.
