Ankara, NATO in Talks on Strengthening Country's Defense With Patriots

Ankara is continuing talks with NATO on boosting the alliance’s military potential in the country to include Patriot missiles, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Tanju Bilgic said Friday.

ANKARA (Sputnik) –  Tanju Bilgic told journalists:

“Talks are continuing with NATO on strengthening the defense of our country, including with Patriot [missile] systems.”

According to the Turkish Foreign Ministry, a Russian military aircraft violated the country’s airspace on October 3 from Syria.

The Russian Defense Ministry later confirmed that on October 3 an Su-30 Flanker multirole fighter briefly entered Turkish airspace for a few seconds due to poor weather conditions. Moscow officially apologized for what it said was a "misunderstanding" and vowed not to let it happen again.

Following the incident, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg called for an urgent meeting to discuss the violation of a member state’s airspace.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu stated on Monday that the trespass by a Russian jet into Turkish airspace near Syria would not sour relations between the two countries.

Russia began airstrikes against IS targets in Syria last week, at the request of Syrian President Bashar Assad.