A recent piece of news is talking about Turkey's efforts to seek help and defend all the towns and cities that are located within 50 miles of Turkey's roughly 565-mile border with Syria.

Upon which, Germany's Defense Minister has advised Turkey on Monday to make a formal request to NATO for Patriot missile-defense batteries to bolster anti-aircraft defenses along the country's border with war-wracked Syria.

Moreover, a person familiar with the negotiations between both the nations has also confirmed that Germany is privately pressuring Turkey to scale back the scope of such requests and keep them to a minimum.

Along with U. S. and Netherlands, Germany has also indicated its interests in sending Patriot air-defense batteries to protect any further spillover of the Syria conflict into Turkey. Last week heard the news that Ankara also approached the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (on Wednesday) with a formal request for the systems.

Reporting upon the same issue, a state-run Anatolia news agency has written that the country's Defense Minister Mr. Ismet Yilmaz has told the reporters in the eastern province of Sivas on Saturday that NATO has decided to work with Turkey's armed forces in a technical study enabling it to protect the widest swath of Turkey.