Germany to pull Patriot missiles from Turkey by early next year

Germany intends to pull out two Patriot missile-defense batteries along with its 250 soldiers from Turkey, German Defense Ministry says.

The Bundeswehr – Germany’s armed forces – said on its website that the mandate for the mission would run out on 31 January 2016, and plans to not be renewed.

Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen introduced on the weekend that Berlin would let its three-year Patriot mission lapse in January as an alternative of in search of parliamentary approval to prolong it. The Dutch ended their mission earlier this year and were replaced by the Spanish.

Germany, along with the United States and the Netherlands, sent two Patriot missile batteries and 400 German soldiers to NATO-member Turkey in 2003 after North Atlantic Treaty Organisation foreign ministers approved the mission in December 2012 in response to a request from Ankara to that effect to help protect its territory from missiles that could be launched by the Syrian military. “It comes from (the organization) Islamic State”.

The Defence Ministry spokesman said the decision was based on an assessment that the threat of missile attacks from Syria had significantly diminished.

The Patriot batteries and the German troops have been deployed in the southern province of Kahramanmaraş since 2013.

At the same time, Steinmeier warned against judging Turkey too quickly, noting that it was taking on more refugees from Syria and Iraq than any other country and coping with a major threat on its border from the civil war in Syria.

German missiles were deployed near the city of Kahramanmaras (southern Turkey), a hundred kilometers from the Syrian border.