The argument over a missile shield also extends to possible missile sites in Turkey. Sources who are familiar with the negotiations are telling us that there has been no objection to installing missiles in the capital city of Ankara in Central Anatolia, the eastern Anatolian province of Erzurum and in Istanbul to protect the two existing bridges straddling the Bosporus. The controversy erupts over possible sites either in the Black Sea region or along the southern border of Turkey.
Ankara insists the deployment of a missile shield in the Black Sea coastal province of Sinop would be tantamount to saying that Russia is the main target of the defensive network and objects strongly to any launching pads in southern provinces like Hatay or Batman, signaling the missile system would benefit Israel at the expense of Iran and Syria and putting Turkey\\\'s warm relations with two neighbors at serious risk. The fear is that Turkey might be used as a proxy to boost Israeli defenses against a growing Iranian threat. In fact, that was one of the reasons Turkey has sought assurances that non-NATO countries would not have access to the intelligence that missile sensors in the shield would gather.
If everything goes as planned, Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) anti-ballistic missile systems would be the first ones to be positioned in Turkey with the possibility of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missiles following later. In the last step, the system might be linked to US Aegis Missile Defense Ships that can shoot down long-range missiles with SM-3 missiles. However, the problem with the Aegis is the 1936 Montreux Convention, which restricts the passage of non-Turkish military vessels through the straits. Therefore, no ship carrying missile defense system elements can pass through the straits to reach the Black Sea.
Crucial for all these systems of course is the existence of early tracking information known as X-Band radars on the ground in Turkey to sense missile raids early on so that sea and land-based interceptor missiles can be launched to remove the threat. There is no fixed place for these radars yet. But here, because of geographical proximity to threat areas, Turkey offers a position nobody, including Romania, where some of the launch pads will be installed, can fill.Let\\\'s see how Turkey performs a balancing act on this tightrope.(End)(Courtesy Today\\\'s Zaman)