In an unprecedented move, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared his desire to obtain nuclear weapons, flouting Turkey’s obligations as a signatory of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Speaking at an economic forum in the central Anatolian city of Sivas Sept. 4, Erdogan praised the advancement of Turkey’s defense industry and then said, “It’s all fine and well, yet some countries have missiles with nuclear warheads, not one or two. But I don’t have missiles with nuclear heads. This I cannot accept.”

Erdogan’s use of the singular first-person pronoun was, of course, meant to denote Turkey and not himself. His statement reflects his mistrust in the nuclear umbrella of NATO, to which his country belongs. Indirectly, it also indicates that he attributes no deterrent significance to the American B61 tactical nuclear weapons deployed at the Incirlik Air Base, in southern Turkey, as part of NATO’s nuclear program.

In further remarks, Erdogan claimed that “all developed countries in the world” have nuclear weapons and recounted an anecdote about how the former president of an unnamed nuclear country grumbled about restrictions on him. Erdogan said, “When I was on a visit there, he told me, ‘They tell us this and that, yet I have about 7,500 nuclear warheads at present, but Russia and America have 12,500 or 15,000. I, too, will make [more].’”

Signaling that he does not object to nuclear arms races, Erdogan commented, “Look at them. Look at what they are competing over. But when it comes to us, they say, ‘Don’t do it!’” In arguing why Turkey’s acquisition of nuclear arms would be legitimate, he pointed to Israel, which is believed to be a nuclear state but maintains a policy of “nuclear ambiguity,” neither confirming nor denying whether it has nuclear weapons. “There is Israel just beside us. Do they have [nuclear weapons]? They do," he said, describing Israel’s possession of nuclear arms as a tool for “bullying” the region.