Turkey eyes hosting early warning radar as part of NATO’s missile defense system for Europe.

Turkey eyes hosting early warning radar as part of NATO's missile defense system for Europe.

Spokesman for the Turkish foreign ministry said his country supported the decision since last year, when leaders of the 28-member NATO alliance endorsed plans in Lisbon year to launch a Europe-wide ballistic missile shield.
"Our country has supported this decision since the very beginning and actively contributed to the process," Selcuk Unal, said in a written statement Thursday.

Unal said technical negotiations about the deployment of the defense architecture in Turkey "have reached a final stage."
"It is foreseen that the early warning radar system dedicated by the United States to NATO will be deployed in our country," Unal said.

 "Turkey's hosting of this element will contribute to the... defense system, which is developed under NATO's new strategic concept (and) strengthen NATO's defense capacity and Turkey's national defense system," he added.