The United States currently has a stockpile of 90 B61 nuclear weapons in Turkey, all deployed at the Incirlik Air Force Base, according to a report recently published in the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet.
Hurriyet said 50 of the nuclear weapons are kept in a state of readiness to be immediately loaded onto U.S. bombers.
It will be difficult for Turkey to explain why it has allowed the U.S. to store nuclear weapons at Incirlik to its Muslim and Arab neighbors, especially in light of current developments in the region.
The U.S. State Department and the Pentagon have not made any comments on the issue, and U.S. media outlets are occupied with the presidential election campaign.
However, the fact that the U.S. has a stockpile of nuclear weapons in the country is a very big deal in Turkey, and MP Sukru Elekdag, who formerly served as the country’s ambassador to the United States, recently questioned the government about the issue, saying it has created a great threat to the peace and security of the region.
Everyone knows that the deployment of nuclear weapons is a very costly procedure. It requires a huge budget and vast technological capabilities.
It appears that U.S. officials are trying to implement their malevolent plans in the Middle East at a time when the general public’s attention is focused on the U.S. presidential election.
Meanwhile, the Turkish government is facing increasing public pressure over its controversial policy toward the political crisis in Syria, and the revelation about the deployment of U.S. nuclear weapons in the country will surely create more problems for Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The Muslim people of Turkey are already dissatisfied with the policy adopted by Ankara toward Syria, and if there are any new acts of adventurism by Turkish officials, popular resentment will boil over.
Hassan Lasjerdi is a political analyst and an expert on Turkish politics based in Tehran.
via U.S. nuclear weapons in Turkey threatening regional peace – Tehran Times.
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