Off Topic, but of interest to Turkish deal...
Global Update
April 15, 1998
Atomic Weapons Reported on Turkish Base
According to a report in the April 14 edition of the Turkish newspaper
"Hurriyet," 15 atomic bombs have been "found" at the Incirlik air base in
Adana. The weapons, possibly left over from the Cold War, are under the
control of US forces stationed at the base. Hurriyet cited a report from
experts at the Natural Resources Defense Council, an American environmental
group, as confirming the existence of the weapons. According to the
Turkish newspaper, authorities in Ankara are currently discussing with
Washington plans for disposing of these weapons.
The reported presence of atomic bombs at Incirlik is not the critical point
here, even as a veiled threat to the Iraqis. Incirlik was a key base in
the US's encirclement of the Soviet Union during the Cold War, making the
deployment of nuclear weapons to the base all but expected. Furthermore,
Saddam Hussein is well aware that US Navy vessels in the Persian Gulf can
carry nuclear-armed cruise missiles. The threat from this report comes
more from its impact on internal Turkish politics, which are passing
through an unsettled period. These politics can, in turn, affect US-
Turkish relations in the midst of the current web of intense and complex
diplomatic maneuvering. Turkey, a key U.S. ally, is balancing its relations
with Iraq and Iran with its own security concerns over the Kurds. Ankara
is also confronting Greece and its allies over Cyprus and the Aegean. The
Hurriyet report comes less than a week before US Defense Secretary William
Cohen arrives in Turkey, on the first leg of a multi-country Middle East
visit. It therefore has the potential to create an unfavorable political
atmosphere in Turkey on the eve of Cohen's visit.
Thus, the most important question is why this story became public at all
and why it became public at this time. We are not surprised that the anti-
nuclear NRDC would publish a report of nuclear weapons in Turkey. However,
the NRDC is hardly a regular source for Hurriyet. Quite the contrary, the
NRDC has much better access to American media than to Turkish. Thus, the
question of how an NRDC report found its way into a Turkish newspaper is
the real story, for which we do not have the answer. However, this much is
clear. Whoever decided to pass the story on was deliberately trying to
complicate both Cohen's mission and U.S.-Turkish relations. There are many
candidates for this role. It would be interesting to find out which one
arranged this unpleasant surprise for the Secretary of Defense. |
