Turkey objects to Iran-centric Nato shield

As negotiations on a missile defence shield enter their final days before a Nato leaders' meeting in Lisbon, Turkey is turning out to be more of a problem to the alliance than Russia, whose hostile attitude towards its former Cold War enemy is starting to fade.

One of the main sticking points in agreeing the final text of Nato's new strategic concept is the language in which countries describe the potential missile threats to Europe, EUobserver has learned.

Despite being one of the early members of the military alliance which it joined in 1952, Turkey has grown increasingly at odds with its Western allies as it seeks closer ties to its eastern neighbours Iran and Syria, which the US and also some European allies, such as France, want to name as threats.

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