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Iranian lawmaker says NATO Patriot missiles to create insecurity in Turkey

22 December 2012 22:41 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. A senior Iranian lawmaker said Saturday the deployment of NATO's Patriot missiles along Turkey's border with Syria will create insecurity in Turkey, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

Head of Iran Majlis (parliament) National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Alaeddin Boroujerdi said "These missiles will not help provide security to Turkey because all the neighbors of Turkey are discontent with the deployment of these missiles," according to the report.

Deployment of Patriot missiles will not serve the interests of Turkey either, he was quoted as saying.

NATO recently approved to send six Patriot missile batteries from the United States, Germany and the Netherlands to Turkey to be operational by the end of January 2013. The 21-month protests against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have turned increasingly bloody, with heavy fighting often erupting along Syria's border with Turkey.

On Saturday, Iranian defense minister said Saturday that the installation of NATO's Patriot missiles in Syria-Turkey border is to the "disadvantage" of Turkey, semi-official ISNA news agency reported.

"The presence of foreign forces in the Islamic states has always caused problems and differences between the Islamic countries," The Iranian minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi told ISNA on Saturday.

Vahidi said that installation of NATO's Patriot missiles will have no role in providing security to Turkey and this is to the " disadvantage" of the Turks, according to ISNA.

By participating in the regional equations, the West pursues its own interests and Iran is against Westerners' involvements in the regional issues, he added.