Russia to install radar & missile systems close to critical NATO facilities in Turkey, prompting security concerns

The government of President Erdogan has not been forthcoming with details of the plant construction, which is estimated to cost some $20-$22 billion

Russian plans to install radar and missile systems in a Turkish town located some 280 miles from a critical NATO radar base as part of an agreement to build a 4,500-MW capacity nuclear power plant in Turkey has prompted an outcry and security concerns from the opposition.

“The installation of a radar system also means the establishment of an air defense system. In other words, have you given permission for the construction of a nuclear power plant that we can’t protect ourselves? How and on what basis will the software for this system, which will be left entirely to the Russians, distinguish between friend and foe?” asked opposition lawmaker Zeki Hakan Sıdalı during a debate in parliament on October 26.

Sıdalı represents Mersin province, where Russia’s Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation is building Turkey’s first nuclear power plant in the town of Akkuyu, near Buyukeceli in the Gulnar district.

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The agreement was originally signed as an intergovernmental deal between the two countries in May 2010, but numerous concessions to Russia were made by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who issued hastily drafted decrees and rushed laws through parliament to please the Kremlin.

Read more: Nordic Monitor