While Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan complains that Turkey cannot have nuclear weapons of its own, some U.S. officials are concerned that keeping U.S. nuclear missiles at the Incirlik airbase in southern Turkey could prove dangerous.
A senior U.S. official told The New York Times that American B-61 nuclear bombs at Incirlik were being held hostage by Erdoğan since the United States cannot take them out of Turkey without bringing a de-facto end to the strategic alliance between the two countries.
On the other hand, keeping them there would “perpetuate a nuclear vulnerability that should have been eliminated years ago.”
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Author
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Nicholas Heras
Former Fellow, Middle East Security Program
Nicholas A. Heras is a former Fellow at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), working in the Middle East Security Program. His work focused on the analysis of complex...
