German, Dutch and Turkish defense ministers gathered for a joint visit [Feb. 23] to NATO Patriot batteries deployed to Turkey that had been declared fully operational two weeks earlier. Ismet Yilmaz, Turkey’s defense minister, took the occasion to “thank [his] fellow ministers from Germany and the Netherlands for their important contribution.”
This event marked the final step in a NATO build-up that had been scrutinized in the last months by all the stakeholders of the Syrian conflict. It was then followed two days later by the visit of German Chancellor Angela Merkel to Turkey, a trip that included a meeting with NATO German Patriot missile batteries' troops.
