Turkey's chief of general staff, General Necdet Ozel, made the comment during a visit on October 10 to a town where shelling from neighboring Syria killed five civilians last week.
The attack has sparked cross-border artillery and mortar exchanges between Turkey and Syria, where President Bashar al-Assad's forces are fighting against rebels.
Ozel's comments came one day after NATO Secretary-Greneral Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the military alliance had "all necessary plans in place to protect and defend Turkey if necessary."