Missiles in Turkey traded for shield, diplomat says

EXCLUSIVE:

The announcement Thursday that the Obama administration is canceling missile defense deployments in Europe may be part of a trade that includes sending other missiles to Turkey.

The decision to scrap the deployments in Poland and the Czech Republic came days after the administration announced the proposed sale of $7.8 billion in Patriot PAC-3 anti-missile batteries and related gear to Turkey.

A European diplomat who asked not to be named because he was discussing intergovernmental discussions said the United States was looking for a less costly alternative more in tune with its evaluation of Iran’s missile program.

“This was a costly program,” he said of the scrapped deployments in Poland and the Czech Republic. “They may find other ways to do this was less cost … with missiles of a different type in theater.”

The diplomat added that the reported sale of Patriot anti-missile systems to Turkey “could be part of that assessment.”

Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said the proposed sale to Turkey, of which Congress was notified on Friday, was not part of the new missile defense strategy.

However, the White House said the shift in strategy is away from fixed missile defense positions in Eastern Europe and toward a system it said will be more flexible and adaptable, and focused on short- and midrange missiles from Iran rather than long-range intercontinental ballistic missiles.

The Turkish Embassy in Washington referred questions to the Pentagon and defense officials in Ankara. Turkey is a NATO ally and neighbor of Iran that has had good relations with the Islamic Republic and may host multilateral negotiations about the Iranian nuclear program Oct. 1.

Mr. Obama traveled to Turkey during his first major trip abroad as president in April, visiting both the capital and Istanbul. He said at the time that his visit was “a statement about the importance of Turkey not just to the United States but to the world,” because it is a Muslim majority nation that straddles Europe and the Middle East.