At stake is Turkey's strategic parity with other nuclear powers in the region: Russia, Israel, Pakistan, and Iran. Highly-placed sources indicate that Turkey has been deliberating the acquisition of military nuclear capability for some time, but has been constrained by its need to maintain good relations with the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty (NATO) partners generally, as well as the European Union (EU). The Turkish General Staff (Genelkurmay Baskanlari: GB) is also engaged in this debate, but, for the most part, this is a debate dominated by the civilian leadership.
Turkish acquisition of nuclear weapons would significantly transform the balance of power and the strategic dynamic of the Eastern Mediterranean, the Greater Black Sea Basin (GBSB), and the Caucasus, and would be the cornerstone of Turkey's ambitious program to restore what it sees as its historical pan-Turkist mission. Indeed, without nuclear weapons — at least as far as regional perception is concerned — Turkey could not compete against a nuclear Iran or be seen as an independent "great power" in the region.
Nuclear weapons research has long been underway, under conditions of extreme secrecy, in Turkey, and the AKP leadership is aware that it is probable that this will become public knowledge as the effort becomes more intense.
1 comment:
Turkey is a moderate country and fairly friendly to the United States, but it is still a MUSLIM country. Letting ANY Muslim country acquire nuclear weapons is absolutely bug-eyed crazy. Sooner or later, some Muslim (I know-- they are really all peace-loving and mean no one any harm, that is, of course, if you don't count the thousands of other Muslims they kill every year, or the thousands of others they murder every year, OR the official proclamations of Muslim governments that killing Jews and infidels is not only good, but REQUIRED by the (peace loving) Koran) will sell or give the weapons to another Muslim who believes its his holy duty to detonate it in America or Israel. Look at the BILLIONS of dollars we give to Pakistan every year to safeguard their nuclear arsenal -- and there is growing fear that it ain't working out that well....God help us against these murderous nutbags...
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