Istanbul, November 01: Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday that countries opposed to Iran’s atomic programme should give up their own nuclear weapons and slammed the ‘arrogant’ sanctions imposed on Tehran.
He also said he wanted the Middle East, and then the whole world, to rid itself of nuclear weapons.
During a trip to Iran this week, Erdogan said he backed Tehran’s “right to peaceful nuclear energy” and called its approach in nuclear talks with world powers “positive.”
“… those who criticise Iran’s nuclear programme continue to possess the same weapons,” said Erdogan, according to an advance copy, carried by state-run Anatolian news agency, of a televised address he will make at 8 p.m. (1800 GMT).
“I think that those who take this stance, who want these arrogant sanctions, need to first give these (weapons) up. We shared this opinion with our Iranian friends, our brothers.”
Turkey, a European Union candidate, has been Israel’s closest Muslim ally, but relations have soured since Israel’s December-January attack on the Gaza Strip.
Erdogan also said Turkey wants the Middle East, and in time the world, to be free of nuclear weapons. “We want to live in a region completely purged of nuclear weapons. We want to live in a world in which nuclear weapons no longer exist,” he said.
Iran insists it has the right to develop nuclear technology, which it says is aimed at generating energy for its growing population.
Although Iran has oil, it is still dependent on petrol imports to meet about 40 percent of domestic consumption.
Israel is the only country in the Middle Ease that actually has nuclear weapons.
Observers say due the strong Jewish and pro-Israel lobbies in the US and some European countries, these countries have taken a hypocritical stance in relation to nuclear issues in the region.
Tehran had repeatedly protested against Israeli and US war threats, warning them that it would retaliate in the event of any strike against Iran.
—Agencies