NATO’s Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF) will be led by Turkey in 2021, the military bloc said on Wednesday. The news came on the same day Turkey confirmed it will snub NATO-ally U.S. and pursue major arms deals with Russia.
The quick-deployment unit of 6,400 personnel was previously the responsibility from Poland and the new command will begin on Jan. 1, a NATO statement said.
UPI reports the VJTF places soldiers on standby status and ready to deploy, with leadership rotated annually among NATO members, with the majority of the force’s personnel comprised of units from the lead country.
The approximately 4,200 troops of Turkey’s 66th Mechanized Infantry Brigade Command, and about 2,200 more from Albania, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Britain and the United States, will serve in the unit.
NATO formed the VJTF in 2014 in response to crises at the time in the Middle East and the Russian military incursion in Crimea.
As Turkey’s leadership role was confirmed, so too was its pledge to work more closely with Russia in weapons procurement while it looks to expand its influence in the Middle East.
“We prefer to solve all issues, including that of the S-400, through negotiations,” Turkish foreign minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said, referring to a Russian-made air-defence system bought by Turkey, as reported by Breitbart News.
The S-400 is the latest generation surface-to-air defense system developed by Russia as a rival for America’s own Patriot weaponry, and is considered by NATO countries to pose a threat to their combined air operations.
The S-400 missiles are not interoperable with the technology NATO countries use, as the alliance requires.
“We will not give up on our intentions,” Çavuşoğlu said, after meeting Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov in Sochi, Russia.
The U.S. blacklisted four Turkish officials in December over the S-400 deal and previously excluded Turkey from a fighter-jet development program, amid concern Russian-made radars could jeopardise NATO assets in the region.
Turkey, a NATO member since 1952, has also been embroiled in a diplomatic conflict with Cyprus and fellow NATO member Greece over offshore oil drilling in the Mediterranean.
Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been criticized by NATO leaders for anti-democratic internal policies and the country’s involvement in the Syrian civil war.