Nuclear weaponsU.S. Nuclear Weapons at Incirlik Air Base, in effect, “Erdogan’s hostages”: U.S. Official
Trump announced his hasty decision to withdraw U.S. troops from northern Syria in a series of Tweets on Sunday, following a phone call with Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan – despite months of warnings from the Pentagon, the NSC, the U.S. intelligence community, and the Department of State. As a result, no plans were made to deal with the fifty or so tactical nuclear weapons kept under U.S. control at the Incirlik Air Base in south-central Turkey, which the United States shares with Turkey. One official told the New York Times that the nuclear bombs at the base were now effectively Erdogan’s hostages.
Analysts say that the growing tensions between the United States and Turkey – tensions which are likely to intensify if Turkey expands its incursion into Syria, and if the United States imposed more meaningful economic sanctions in Turkey than those announced on Tuesday – may lead to a situation in which the U.S. nuclear weapons stored at the Incirlik air base in south-central Turkey would become, in effect, “hostages” of Turkey.
Trump announced his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from northern Syria in a series of Tweets on Sunday, despite months of warnings from the Pentagon, the NSC, the U.S. intelligence community, and the Department of State. As a result, no plans were made to deal with the fifty or so nuclear bombs kept at Incirlik.
The New York Times reports that the president’s hasty decision left administration officials scrambling to find a plan to secure the nuclear weapons stored under American control at Incirlik Air Base, which is shared by the United States and Turkey.
The Times notes that officials from the State Department and Energy Department, which in charge of U.S. nuclear materials, met over the weekend to evaluate different plans to retrieve the estimated fifty tactical nuclear weapons kept at the site.
One official told the Times that the nuclear bombs at the base were now effectively Erdogan’s hostages. There are worries that removing the weapons may be interpreted as bringing to an end the relations between the two NATO allies, while leaving them at the air base could lead to a situation in which the weapons may be seized by Turkey.
The Independent reports that only last month, Erdogan expressed his frustration with the restrictions on acquiring nuclear weapons which the 1980 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty imposed on Turkey – restrictions that Erdogan called “unacceptable.”
