Category: NATOSource

Rasmussen: NATO has plans to defend Turkey if need be

By Reuters

From Reuters:  The head of NATO said on Tuesday that the 28-member military alliance had plans in place to defend Turkey against attack from Syria if necessary, but that he hoped the two countries would find a way to stop tensions escalating.

Norway increasing its 2013 defense budget, including 30% boost for cyber security

By Ministry of Defense of Norway

Turkey deploy tanks and missile defense assets to border as clashes with Syria continue

By Selcan Hacaoglu, Bloomsberg

From Selcan Hacaoglu, Bloomsberg:  Turkey deployed additional tanks and missile defense systems to the Syrian border following five days of artillery exchanges with President Bashar al-Assad’s armed forces.

New Georgian leader Ivanishvili meets NATO Liaison Officer

By Civil Georgia

From Civil Georgia:  Georgian Dream leader, Bidzina Ivanishvili, met with NATO Liaison Officer in Tbilisi, William Lahue, and reiterated his coalition’s commitment to NATO integration.

New incident of Syrian shelling and Turkish retaliation

By Reuters

From Reuters:  Turkey has returned fire after a mortar bomb shot from Syria landed in a field in southern Turkey.

Turkey’s Prime Minister: “We are not interested in war, but we’re not far from it”

By Reuters

From Reuters:  Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that testing Turkey would be "a fatal mistake", in a warning to Damascus in the wake of Syrian shelling of a town in southeast Turkey that killed five people.

Israel says Syrian mortar strike on Turkey was attack on NATO

By Reuters

From Reuters:  Israel‘s Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor said on Thursday a deadly Syrian mortar strike on a Turkish town had to be considered an attack on a member of the NATO alliance.

How should NATO respond to the crisis between Turkey and Syria?

By Ross Wilson, New Atlanticist

From Ross Wilson, New Atlanticist:  Just as Ankara took the June 22 Syrian downing of a Turkish F-4 fighter jet to Brussels as a way to galvanize NATO solidarity at a time of rising turmoil on its southern frontier, so it did immediately after the October 3 exchange with Syria.