ANKARA
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has dismissed remarks by Iran over possible deployment of Patriot missiles along Turkey's border with Syria.
"Believe in your government, believe in your state. When your government, state makes a decision on anything, it knows whom to consult it with, and makes that decision and it follows through. We do not need to ask for anyone's mandate," Erdogan told reporters in response to a question during a press conference in the Turkish capital, Ankara.
A NATO team inspected military installations in Malatya province on Wednesday to assess possible sites to deploy 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 missiles are part of a preparation for intervention 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.
