ANKARA, Turkey -- Turkey's foreign ministry says an early warning radar will be stationed at a military installation in the country's southeast as part of NATO's missile defense system.
The system is aimed at countering ballistic missile threats from Turkey's neighbor Iran, which has warned Turkey that deployment of the radar would escalate regional tensions. Turkey insists the shield is not targeting a particular country.
Spokesman Selcuk Unal says in a statement Wednesday that site surveys and legal arrangements have been finalized and the radar will be stationed near the town of Kurecik in Malatya province.
Unal says "that installation was used in the past for similar purposes."
The United States hopes to have the radar deployed there by the end of the year.
