The mission provides for transfer of reconnaissance aircraft to Turkey in order to assist it in air defense and guarding its borders.
The Ministry of Defense stated that the mission is of an intelligence, not a combat nature. However, according to German MPs, the government should have consulted the parliament before making such a decision.
"The government must immediately inform parliament of the details of this deployment, in particular what missions will be assigned to these planes and the destination of any data they collect," representative of the German green party Tobias Lindner said.
A similar opinion is shared by the vice-president of the German Left Party (Die Linke) Sahra Wagenknecht. She called the planned NATO mission "extremely dangerous" and demanded a voting on the subject.
On Saturday, German media reported that NATO would deploy the Boeing E-3 Sentry airborne early warning and control aircraft in Turkey as part of its air defense assistance to the country amid the Syrian crisis, citing a letter to the German parliament by the German Foreign Ministry and the German Defense Ministry.