U.S. to Build Anti-missile Shield in Turkey, not Poland?

The U.S. is already negotiating the building of the anti-missile shield in Turkey – so argues lobbyist Riki Ellison in the pages of the Hurriyet Daily News. In the opinion of experts, such a solution is barely real.

Riki Ellison, one of the top American lobbyists and the president of Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, which is promoting the missile defense system, claims, “the negotiations are already under way and will be continued.” In his opinion, the Americans want to build the shield in four Turkish bases.

“I think it is simply ridiculous and silly. The political consent to such a project would be very problematic for the Turks. Actually, why should the Turks invest their political capital in that project as they see how Poland and the Czech Republic were treated by the USA?” – an expert of the conservative Heritage Foundation, James Carafano, explains in a conversation with Rzeczpospolita. “Besides, what kind of shield should we place there? After all, the U.S. has got no anti-missile system that they could deploy in Turkey. So, this whole discussion is purely theoretical and it cannot go beyond a demonstration of slides in PowerPoint,” he adds.

The information on the negotiations concerning the building of the American system was also officially denied by Turkish Chief of Diplomacy Ahmet Davutoglu, who emphasized that neither the USA nor NATO turned to the Turkish authorities with any query concerning the shield. Analysts also emphasized that Turkish consent to the building of the anti-missile shield would hinder the relations between Ankara and Moscow. These fears were confirmed, among others, by the Russian ex-ambassador to Turkey, Alexander Lebedev, quoted by the daily Zaman, suggesting that if the reports of the media were true, it would make Russian-Turkish relations worse. The Hurriyet Daily News also notes that during the August visit to Ankara, the Prime Minister Vladimir Putin signed a series of agreements concerning energy and trade matters.

Last week, The New York Times wrote that the Pentagon was considering an alternative solution for bases in Poland and the Czech Republic. Meanwhile, Gazeta Wyborcza, quoting Ellison’s words, wrote that abandoning the plans of building the shield in Poland and the Czech Republic is virtually settled.

[Editor’s note: some quotes may be worded based on translated material].