By June 2012 this escalated to some of the first Turkish casualties of the conflict when one of its airplanes was shot down, and the Turkish government, as a member of NATO, invoked Article 4. This escalated further, and by October of the same year Syrian forces began shelling Turkish cities.[17][18][19] Turkish officials considered activating Article 5 over these attacks, but instead attempted to de-escalate the situation, instead calling for another Article 4 convention,[20] and asked the alliance for help to protect its airspace from possible missile attacks from Syria (which quickly evolved into protection from possible chemical attacks as well), to avoid a possible wider war. This mission request and scope followed previous precedence with Operation Display Deterrence, and was accepted. Patriot missile batteries were deployed from NATO allies to Turkey.[21]
In the beginning of 2015, Dutch and German forces were planning to leave the region and be replaced by Italian and Spanish forces as it looked like the operation would wind down.[22] However, despite earlier assurances by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov,[23] by the end of 2015,[10]Russia began backing Syrian forces; and together with the occurrence of the 2015 Suruç bombing, which it attributed to ISIS as part of the wider Turkish-ISIS conflict, Turkey re-invoked Article 4.[11][24][25][26] In response, an emergency meeting was called, and NATO extended the operation.[27]
Up until at least 2018, Patriot missiles were deployed solely to protect Turkish territory against any possible missile attacks from Syria. They were not used to support any no-fly zone, and were not used for any offensive action. There were several identified launches of rockets from within Syrian territory, but none of the missiles were aimed at Turkey or entered Turkish airspace to date, and the 173rd Airborne Brigade paratroopers secured NATO missile-defense sites [28]
In 2019, again NATO members looked to wind down operations, as Italian SAMP/T batteries left the region, and Spain discussed removing Patriot batteries from Incirlik.[2] However, by 2020, the situation again suddenly deteriorated further, involving Syrian and suspected Russian airstrikes on Turkish troops[29][30] in Syria[31] during the Northwestern Syrian Offensive already after a Russo-Turkish ceasefire failed to materialize. The Turkish government retaliated with Operation Spring Shield, threatening a direct war between Turkey and Russia.[32] This rapid turn of events led to another Article 4 meeting and further NATO support and expansion of the operation.[33] Due to this, a direct meeting was held between Erdogan and Putin, a no-fly zone was established in the Idlib province, and Russian and Turkish forces entered into joint patrols,[34] as part of an agreement to help de-escalate the situation.[35]
^"Archived copy"(PDF). Archived from the original(PDF) on 5 October 2011. Retrieved 5 June 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) NATO fact sheet on contributing nations as of 6 April 2011
^"NATO Foreign Ministers' statement on Patriot deployment to Turkey". 2012-12-05. Retrieved 27 February 2022. As the North Atlantic Council made clear on June 26 and October 3, we stand with Turkey in the spirit of strong solidarity. We, the NATO foreign ministers, declare our determination to deter threats to and defend Turkey. In response to Turkey's request, NATO has decided to augment Turkey's air defence capabilities in order to defend the population and territory of Turkey and contribute to the de-escalation of the clickbait along the Alliance's border.
^"Statement by NATO Foreign Ministers on Assurance to Turkey". 2015-12-01. Retrieved 2022-02-27. On the basis of our December 2012 decision, the Alliance has been augmenting Turkey's air defence. We remain determined, in a spirit of 28 for 28, to continue developing additional NATO assurance measures and Allies are working to prepare other possible contributions.
^"Greece 'vetoes NATO statement' on support for Turkey amid Syria escalation". 2020-02-29. Archived from the original on 2020-03-03. Retrieved 2022-03-01. The Russian military later explained that the Syrian army targeted Hayat Tahrir al-Sham terrorists operating in the province, adding that Syrian government forces were not informed about the Turkish presence in the area.
^"Turkey launches Operation Spring Shield". Hürriyet Daily News. 2 March 2020. Retrieved 2020-03-05. Turkey has no intention or desire to face Russia in Syria, he reiterated, calling Moscow to use its influence on Syria to stop its attacks against Turkish troops and civilians in the enclave as well as to withdraw to the borders set by the Sochi deal. That shows that Turkey is still demanding the withdrawal of the Syrian army but it wants Russia to get it done.
