Leading Turkish official Fuat Oktay this week called for the dismantling of Israel’s alleged nuclear weapons stockpile. The head of parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee said Israel’s nuclear capability should be “eliminated as soon as possible”.
Addressing the committee on Wednesday, he said Israel had launched a war on Iran over the latter’s nuclear ambitions, while itself maintaining a significant - albeit undeclared - nuclear arsenal.
For decades, Israel has pursued a policy it describes as “strategic ambiguity,” neither confirming nor denying the existence of a nuclear weapons programme.
Israeli officials say this policy provides a credible deterrent and contributes to regional stability. Successive governments have maintained that Israel would not be the first state in the region to introduce nuclear weapons into the Middle East.
Addressing the Foreign Affairs Committee, Oktay also warned that the Israeli-U.S. war on Iran - now in its second month - had expanded beyond its initial scope, affecting Iraq, Lebanon and the Arab Gulf states.
He said the ongoing partial closure of the Strait of Hormuz had disrupted trade and energy transit, adversely affecting the global economy.
“Although it is Israel’s war, the entire world is paying the price,” he said, adding that Israeli-U.S. military strikes on Iran lacked legitimacy under international law.
While Oktay acknowledged Tehran’s right to self-defence, he also criticised Iranian strikes on civilian infrastructure in neighbouring states, describing them as “unacceptable.”
Addressing lawmakers on the same day, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also criticised Israel, describing it as the “main party” behind what he called an “unlawful war”.
He said the ongoing conflict - and Israel’s leading role in it - “has not only turned our region into a burning ground, but also placed an economic burden on all humanity”.
Türkiye, Erdoğan added, is “determined to stay away from this fire.”
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U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet in Beijing on 14–15 May 2026 for a high-stakes summit aimed at managing rising tensions over trade, technology, Taiwan and the Iran conflict.
Azerbaijan’s Eurovision team are confident singer Jiva will secure a place in the contest’s final after performing in the second semi-final in Vienna on Thursday evening (14 May).
Divisions over the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran are set to overshadow a two-day meeting of the BRICS group of emerging economies in the Indian capital New Delhi on Thursday (14 May).
Former Georgia rugby captain Merab Sharikadze has been banned for 11 years after an anti-doping probe uncovered sample swapping in the national team. Several other players and the Georgian Rugby Union were also sanctioned
Kuwait arrested four members of an IRGC-linked group as they tried to enter the country by sea, the Gulf state's KUNA news agency reported on Tuesday. Meanwhile, a senior IRGC officer said Iran had expanded its definition of the Strait of Hormuz to include a far wider area.
Metropolitan Shio of Senaki and Chkhorotsku has been elected the 142nd head of the Georgian Orthodox Church at a meeting of clergy in Tbilisi following the death of longtime Patriarch Ilia II.
Biological samples from an Italian man were transferred to a specialist hospital for testing on Tuesday, after he was suspected of contracting hantavirus. Meanwhile, World Health Organization boss Tedros Ghebreyesus said there were “no sign” of a larger outbreak linked to the MV Hondius cruise.
Exclusive flight-tracking material obtained by AnewZ has raised new questions about French military aircraft movements linked to President Emmanuel Macron’s recent diplomacy with Armenia and the wider scope of France’s defence cooperation with Yerevan.
Around 100 boys in Georgia are living with Duchenne muscular dystrophy - a disease that has never allowed a child to grow old. Their parents have spent weeks protesting outside government offices, saying their sons cannot wait any longer for treatment.
This is the third and final article in AnewZ’s series examining the fight for access to treatment for children with Duchenne muscular dystrophy in Georgia, and the irreversible human cost of delay.
Former Georgia rugby captain Merab Sharikadze has been banned for 11 years after an anti-doping probe uncovered sample swapping in the national team. Several other players and the Georgian Rugby Union were also sanctioned
AnewZ has premiered its new investigative documentary, Shadow of the Cross, examining the power, history and contested role of one of the world’s most recognised humanitarian symbols.
Uzbekistan Energy Week 2026 has opened in Tashkent, bringing together international energy companies, government officials and industry experts to discuss energy security, technological transformation and regional cooperation.
Japan’s first import of crude oil from Azerbaijan has highlighted the country’s energy vulnerability and renewed efforts to diversify supply chains beyond the Middle East, according to Professor Sejiro Takeshita of the University of Shizuoka.
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