    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1991, Book I)]
    [January 2, 1991]
    [Pages 1-2]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Statement by Press Secretary Fitzwater on the Deployment of North
    Atlantic Treaty Organization Forces to Turkey
    January 2, 1991

        NATO decided today, at a meeting of its Defense Planning Committee,
    to deploy the air component of the Allied Command Europe Mobile Force to
    Turkey. Turkey asked the alliance for this help in order to deter the
    threat posed by Iraq and demonstrate NATO's solidarity with Turkey in
    this crisis. The NATO unit that will go to Turkey includes squadrons of
    aircraft from Germany, Italy, and Belgium. This alliance move is
    significant in three respects: First, the Allied Command Europe Mobile
    Force has never before been deployed in a crisis to defend an ally.
    Second, the decision demonstrates the alliance's support for the
    coalition effort and Turkey's part in it against

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    Saddam Hussein. Third, the deployment confirms the importance and
    effectiveness of the alliance in the post-cold-war era.

                        Note: This statement referred to President Saddam
                            Hussein of Iraq.