[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.