Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo?an has dismissed remarks by Iran over the possible deployment of Patriot missiles along Turkey's border with Syria.
"Believe in your government, believe in your state. When your government or state makes a decision on something, it knows who to consult, and makes that decision and it follows through. We do not need to ask for anyone's mandate," Erdo?an told reporters in response to a question during a press conference in Ankara.
A NATO team inspected military installations in Malatya province on Wednesday to assess possible sites to deploy the Patriot missiles, which Turkey requested from the alliance to protect its border with Syria.
A senior military advisor to Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, was quoted by an Iranian news agency earlier today as saying that the deployment of Patriot missiles "will cost Ankara more than they did before if the missiles are part of preparations to intervene in Syria."
The United States, Germany and the Netherlands are the only NATO members to have Patriot missiles in their arsenals.
During the Iraq wars of 1991 and 2003, NATO deployed Patriot missiles in Turkey but they were never used.
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