ANKARA
The U.S. has said it will not renew its deployment of Patriot air and missile defense units in Turkey, due to expire in October.
According to a joint statement issued on Sunday by the U.S. and Turkish governments, the units "will not be renewed beyond the end of the current rotation. Other relevant [NATO] Allies have also been consulted."
The missile batteries have been in Turkey as part of a NATO mission since 2013.
This decision "followed a U.S. review of global missile defense posture and the batteries will be redeployed to the United States for critical modernization upgrades.
"If needed, the United States is prepared to return Patriot assets and personnel to Turkey within one week," the statement added.
U.S. Navy multi-role Aegis ships will continue to be present in the eastern Mediterranean, the two governments said.
On Saturday, Germany said it would end its contribution to NATO's Patriot anti-missile systems in southern Turkey by the beginning of 2016.
“The decision was taken after the present assessments made by NATO in June 2015, which concluded that the threat against Turkish territories by Syrian ballistic missiles is very low,” the German defense ministry said.
