Turkey Has Warned It Could Enter The Nuclear Race
- 10.02.2026, 13:23
Ankara noted dramatic changes in the region that could upset the current balance of power.
Turkey will have to be concerned about obtaining its own nuclear weapons if other countries in the Middle East acquire them, the republic's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told CNN Turk. "Frankly speaking, we don't want to see dramatic changes in the region that could upset the current balance of power. It could push countries, such as those with problematic issues with Iran, to seek to acquire nuclear weapons. And then we may have to unwittingly join this race," the foreign minister said.
Fidan recalled that Turkey has been a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) since 1980. However, according to the minister, there are unfair provisions in the agreement, including that countries that possessed nuclear weapons when the document was signed in 1967 retain that status. "These are the five permanent members of the UN Security Council (UK, China, Russia, US and France." - TMT). In return, it was supposed that other countries would be provided with technology transfer in the field of peaceful atom, and the states possessing nuclear weapons would make every effort to get rid of them. However, neither of these two points has been fulfilled. As a result, nuclear injustice is taking place," Fidan noted.
The minister also admitted that some countries will go down the path of nuclear armament if the US weakens the protective umbrella it has traditionally provided to its allies. "In the future, we may see more and more countries seeking nuclear weapons. And it won't be Iran or any country in the Middle East. It will be countries in the Asia-Pacific and Europe," he said.
February 5, U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance predicted nuclear chaos in the Middle East because of Iran. He said that if the Islamic republic has such weapons, Saudi Arabia and then other Gulf Arab countries will soon want them.
Vance added that the United States will work with China, Russia and any other country to reduce the number of nuclear weapons in the world, "and the only question is how to enforce that red line."