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.”
The United States has announced more than $3.6 million in humanitarian assistance for Nepal following devastating floods that have killed at least ...
British far-right commentator Milo Yiannopoulos has been deported from the United States to the UK after authorities said he violated U.S. immigrat...
At least 37 people were killed after a Russian drone strike hit an ammunition depot in the Kyiv region, triggering powerful secondary explosions&nb...
Iran is setting conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, including an end to the war, the lifting of the U.S. blockade and sanctions. At the same time, Washington is stepping up economic pressure on Tehran through what the White House calls “Operation Economic Outcast.”
Mail sorting centres used by Nova Poshta, Ukraine's largest private postal company, were destroyed in Russian strikes overnight, the firm said. Elsewhere, four people were injured after drones struck an apartment building in Sevastopol, Crimea, according to the Moscow-installed governor.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused U.S. government and Israel-aligned actors of manipulating energy markets to promote the war with Iran.
Russian strikes on the Kyiv region overnight killed 37 people, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said. Zelenskyy added that the Ukrainian capital was under "virtually nonstop attack" from drones.
The Israeli-U.S. invasion of Iran, which began on 28 February, entered its seventh month on Friday, as Tehran wrapped up a week of high-level visits the region, with officials from Pakistan, Oman and Qatar helping to negotiate a way out of the current stalemate in the conflict.
Central Asia is moving towards a more connected digital financial system, as rising cashless payments, expanding digital wallets and growing cross-border trade create demand for faster and cheaper ways to move money across the region.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Uzbekistan on Saturday for a two-day state visit aimed at strengthening economic and strategic ties before travelling to neighbouring Kyrgyzstan for a Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit.
Around five years ago, British prosecutors reportedly decided against pursuing war crime charges against Asma al-Assad, the then First Lady of Syria, because she was unlikely to return to the UK.
Central Asia is emerging as a new market for fintech investment, with Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan leading the region’s push to attract venture capital, develop startups and build digital financial infrastructure.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will travel to Kyrgyzstan next week to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit, where he is expected to hold a series of bilateral meetings with regional leaders.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment