The German military will send Airborne Early Warning and Control System (AWACS) to support NATO member state Turkey in guarding its boarders against threats from Syria, which angered politicians from the European country.
According to a report from the Economic Times, German politicians are not happy with the move, saying that they weren't consulted. The green party's head of defense matters Tobias Lindner said, "The government must immediately inform parliament of the details of this deployment, in particular what missions will be assigned to these planes and the destination of any data they collect."
Defense News reported that a London-based Turkey specialist claims the move is to protect Turkey from Russian aggression. The analyst claims that this move is a message to Russia after the crisis. The analyst said, "It is NATO's best interests if a potential Turkish-Russian conflict is prevented."
Russia is expected to avenge the Russian SU-24 aircrafts that were shot down by Turkish f-16s on November 24 for allegedly violating Turkish airspace. According to the analyst, the revenge might not be "just by means of commercial sanctions."
The Deutsche Welle wrote Germany's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Defense announced to the Bundestag that AWACS would be stationed at the central Turkish city of Konya. According to the Ministry of Defense spokesman, "Since Germany provides 30 percent of all personnel, our armed forces will clearly also be affected by the move."
Germany's government will not consult Bundestag, which is the lower house of parliament, even though the movie involves German troops.
Just this December 22, Germany removed its anti-missile defense system and Patriot air from Turkey after three years of deployment. The withdrawal came after NATO decided to strengthen Turkey's southern defences. Germany and other NATO allies deployed the Patriots to support Turkey in protecting itself from Syria.
There are no official announcements, however, on how many German soldiers will send to Turkey for this mission.
