Turkey's Nuclear Ambitions

Gatestone Institute:

• Russia's ROSATOM already has nuclear cooperation deals with Iran, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, among others. Turkey is just the latest to benefit -- possibly along with Iran and North Korea, both of which have been openly threatening to destroy America -- from Moscow's play for power in the Middle East and the Mediterranean.
• The West would also do well not to feel secure in the knowledge that Turkey is a party to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
• Nuclear reactors in the hands of a repressive Islamist authoritarian such as Erdogan could be turned into weapons factories with little effort.

Turkey's announcement over the summer that it had signed a deal with Russia's State Atomic Energy Corporation (ROSATOM) -- of Hillary Clinton's Uranium One stardom -- to begin building three nuclear power plants in the near future is cause for concern. The $20 billion deal, which has been in the works since 2010, involves the construction in Mersin of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant -- Turkey's first-ever such plant-- will be operational in 2023.



Continue Reading at The Gatestone Institute...