Brussels, 17/02/2003 (Agence Europe) - After a week of prevarication and a further day of deliberations, on Sunday 16 February, NATO allies finally came to an agreement allowing the Atlantic Alliance's military authorities to begin the tasking of limited measures with a view to defending Turkey should Iraq retaliate after military intervention on the part of the coalition headed by the United States. The military authorities of the Alliance will also review plans for the eventual preventive deployment of AWACS aircraft in Turkey, NATO support for the deployment of theatre missile defences for Turkey, and NATO support for possible deployment of Allied chemical and biological defence capabilities, it was announced by NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson. The agreement was reached after a meeting lasting thirteen hours, in the context of the Defence Planning Committee (DPC) of NATO, of which France is not part as it does not belong to the integrated NATO military structure. France, Germany and Belgium stressed in a joint statement that the agreement "in no way prejudges the efforts being made by the UN" for a peaceful settlement to the Iraqi crisis.