Turkish President Abdullah Gul has sent a letter to NATO leaders outlining Ankara's position on the deployment of a NATO missile defense shield on Turkish territory, local media said on Saturday.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told U.S. President Barack Obama during a meeting of G20 leaders in Seoul on Friday that Turkey was "sensitive" about the deployment of a missile defense shield on its territory.
Last week Turkish media said Ankara would agree to deploy a missile-defense system if three conditions were accepted.
First, the Turkish authorities insist on building a NATO, but not a U.S. missile defense system. Second, the anti-missile shield should be deployed in all the alliance's member states. And third, Ankara would not allow NATO to turn Turkey into the alliance's frontline state as it was during the Cold War.
Earlier this month, Gul said Turkey would not agree to host a missile shield that targeted Iran.
"Mentioning one country, Iran... is wrong and will not happen. A particular country will not be targeted...We will definitely not accept that," Gul said in an interview with the BBC's Turkish service.
Turkey will announce its final decision on the missile defense system at the November 18-19 NATO summit in Lisbon.
Meanwhile, some experts said that a missile defense shield in Turkey may be targeted against Iran and pose a threat to Russia's security.
ANKARA, November 13 (RIA Novosti)
