{"id":25909,"date":"2019-09-19T13:17:26","date_gmt":"2019-09-19T10:17:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onisilos.gr\/?p=25909"},"modified":"2019-09-20T15:42:39","modified_gmt":"2019-09-20T12:42:39","slug":"next-for-turkey-nuclear-weapons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onisilos.gr\/?p=25909","title":{"rendered":"Next for Turkey? Nuclear Weapons!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><b>by <\/b><b>Burak Bekdil<\/b><b><br \/>\nSeptember 18, 2019 at 5:00 am<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan now wants to make Turkey a rogue state with nuclear weapons.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">For several decades, Turkey, being a staunch NATO ally, was viewed as the trusted custodian of some of the U.S. nuclear arsenal. In the early 1960s, the U.S. started stockpiling nuclear warheads at the Turkish military&#8217;s four main airbases<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Presently, the nuclear warheads in Turkey at Incirlik airbase still remain at the disposal of the U.S. military under a special U.S.-Turkish treaty. That treaty makes Turkey the host of U.S. nuclear weapons. According to the launch protocol, however, both Washington and Ankara need to give consent to any use of the nuclear weapons deployed at Incirlik.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">&#8220;Countries that oppose Iran&#8217;s nuclear weapons should not have nuclear weapons themselves.&#8221; \u2014 Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, <i>H\u00fcrriyet<\/i>, 2008.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">If Turkey overtly or covertly launched a nuclear weapons program &#8212; as Erdo\u011fan apparently wishes &#8212; the move could well have a domino effect on the region. Turkey&#8217;s regional adversaries would be alarmed, and Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria and Greece might be tempted to launch their own nuclear weapons programs. Erdo\u011fan should not be allowed to possess nuclear weapons.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">During the 17 years he has ruled NATO-member Turkey, the country&#8217;s Islamist strongman, President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan, has rarely missed an opportunity stealthily to convert Mustafa Kemal Atat\u00fcrk&#8217;s secular, pro-Western establishment into a rogue state hostile to Western interests. Erdo\u011fan now wants to make it a rogue state with nuclear weapons.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-25910 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onisilos.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/erdogan-1024x899.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"899\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onisilos.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/erdogan-1024x899.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.onisilos.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/erdogan-300x263.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onisilos.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/erdogan-768x674.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onisilos.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/erdogan-1170x1027.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/www.onisilos.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/erdogan.jpg 1526w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">&#8220;They say we can&#8217;t have nuclear-tipped missiles, though some have them. This, I can&#8217;t accept,&#8221; Erdo\u011fan <a href=\"https:\/\/ahvalnews.com\/akp\/turkeys-erdogan-slams-rebels-hints-nuclear-weapons-procurement\">said<\/a> in a September 4 speech, while conveniently forgetting that Turkey has signed the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1980. In other words, Turkey&#8217;s elected leader publicly declares that he intends to breach an international treaty signed by his country. Turkey is also a signatory to the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, which bans all nuclear detonations, for any purpose.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">For several decades, Turkey, being a staunch NATO ally, was viewed as the trusted <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hurriyet.com.tr\/yazarlar\/sedat-ergin\/turkiyenin-kisa-nukleer-tarihi-41323729\">custodian<\/a> of some of the U.S. nuclear arsenal. In the early 1960s, the U.S. started stockpiling nuclear warheads at the Turkish military&#8217;s four main airbases (Ankara M\u00fcrted, Malatya Erha\u00e7, Eski\u015fehir and Bal\u0131kesir). If ordered, Turkish air force pilots were tasked with hitting designated Warsaw Pact targets.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Squadrons of jets designated for carrying nuclear bombs were kept at each airbase (first F-100s, followed by F-104s and finally by F-4s) on a round-the-clock basis. Each base housed a small U.S. military unit in charge of the nuclear stockpile. In addition, a Turkish-U.S. military base in Incirlik in southern Turkey kept nuclear warheads to be operated by U.S. military. &#8220;With that role Turkey significantly added to NATO&#8217;s deterrence in Cold War years,&#8221; said Yusuf Kanl\u0131, a prominent columnist and president of the Ankara-based think tank, Sigma Turkey, in a private interview on September 9.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">After the end of the Cold War, the nuclear weapons in Turkish possession (at the four airbases, except Incirlik) were gradually removed, while nuclear guardianship came to a halt. Presently, the nuclear warheads at Incirlik still remain at the disposal of the U.S. military under a special U.S.-Turkish treaty. That treaty makes Turkey the host of U.S. nuclear weapons. According to the usage <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hurriyet.com.tr\/yazarlar\/sedat-ergin\/turkiyenin-kisa-nukleer-tarihi-41323729\">protocol<\/a>, however, both Washington and Ankara need to give consent to any use of the nuclear weapons deployed at Incirlik.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">This is not, in fact, the first time Erdo\u011fan has voiced an eagerness to make Turkey a nuclear-armed state. As early as 2008 &#8212; when he was the poster child of na\u00efve Western statesmen and intellectuals who believed he was a reformist democrat &#8212; Erdo\u011fan <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hurriyet.com.tr\/the-islamist-10835788\">said<\/a>: &#8220;Countries that oppose Iran&#8217;s nuclear weapons should not have nuclear weapons themselves.&#8221; Despite his use of the plural &#8220;countries,&#8221; Erdo\u011fan was apparently pointing his finger at the country he hates the most: Israel, not the United States.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">In a 2010 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/SB10001424052702303591204575169980169518418\">speech<\/a>, Erdo\u011fan described Israel as &#8220;the principal threat to peace&#8221; in the Middle East. In that speech, he repeated his skepticism about whether Iran intended to use its nuclear-fuel program to build nuclear weapons, and said there was no such uncertainty concerning Israel&#8217;s undeclared arsenal.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">If Turkey overtly or covertly launched a nuclear weapons program &#8212; as Erdo\u011fan apparently wishes &#8212; the move could well have a domino effect on the region. Turkey&#8217;s regional adversaries would be alarmed, and Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria and Greece might be tempted to launch their own nuclear weapons programs. Erdo\u011fan should not be allowed to possess nuclear weapons.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><i>Burak Bekdil, one of Turkey&#8217;s leading journalists, was recently fired from the country&#8217;s most noted newspaper after 29 years, for writing in Gatestone what is taking place in Turkey. He is a Fellow at the Middle East Forum.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><i>source:https:\/\/www.gatestoneinstitute.org\/14896\/turkey-erdogan-nuclear-weapons<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Burak Bekdil September 18, 2019 at 5:00 am President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan now wants to make Turkey a rogue state with nuclear weapons. 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