Subject: issues regarding the deployment of a NATO missile defense system in Turkish territory ...
Turkish President Abdullah Gul sent a letter to the head of NATO member-states. The letter sets out Ankara’s position on the issue of deploying a NATO missile defense system (NMD) in Turkish territory, Turkish media reports.
Sources in the president’s administration did not disclose the details of the letter due to the “sensitivity” of the issue of missile defense, CNN Turk reports.
Meanwhile, according to the television channel, Turkish leadership insists that the missile defense system -- created within the framework of NATO and aimed at ensuring the security of the members of the alliance, which is expected to be discussed at NATO summit in Lisbon on November 19-20-- must not contain a reference to a specific country as a source of threat. In particular it implicates Iran, with which Turkey has been in close collaboration recently.

On November 12,  Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Ankara had not yet made a final decision on the deployment of a missile defense system. Answering journalists’ questions after a meeting in Seoul with President Barack Obama, Erdogan said that his country’s position will finally be determined at the NATO summit in the Portuguese capital. The president, as well as ministers of foreign affairs and defense will represent Turkey, RIA Novosti reports.