Ankara, Turkey – Turkey will ask the UN Security Council and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to verify Israel’s possession of nuclear weapons, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday.
Erdogan stressed that Turkey will not allow the issue of nuclear weapons and atomic bombs, whose existence is denied by Israeli ministers, to be forgotten, state news agency Anadolu reported, according to Al Arabiya News.
He said: “Israel, tell whether you have an atomic bomb or not. [It] can’t say. But look, we say it. Israel, you have the atomic bomb.”
He added: “We will take initiatives both before the UN Security Council and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on this issue, which threatens the security of the entire region, including Turkey.”
Israeli Minister of Heritage Amihai Eliyahu’s had remarked earlier this month about the option of launching a nuclear strike on the Gaza Strip. The Israeli minister, when asked in an interview about a hypothetical option of dropping a nuclear bomb on the Gaza Strip, said: “That’s one way.”
At the time, the head of Iran’s atomic energy organization Mohammad Eslami considered the minister’s statement as amounting to a de facto admission that Israel does possess nuclear weapons, Al Arabiya reported.
Erdogan went on to reiterate his claim that Israel was a “terrorist state”: “We need to know this once and for all. Israel is a terrorist state. There is no need to hesitate to say this. This is the truth we know. This is the case.”
“We cannot and will not tolerate the policy of the State of Israel, which has grown by constantly occupying, seizing land and massacring the oppressed, to render Gaza uninhabited,” Erdogan said.
“The attacks, in which more than 13,000 of our Palestinian brothers were martyred, have once again revealed the true face, intention and purpose of Israel and its supporters. In this regard, it is very important that the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Israeli rulers are not left without sanctions,” Erdogan stressed.
As for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Erdogan said he must be referred to the International Criminal Court. “Netanyahu is a goner. Even the Israeli people no longer support Netanyahu.”
Netanyahu had slammed Erdogan last week for labeling Israel a “terror state” by saying: “He calls Israel a terror state, but in his actions he supports the terror state of Hamas. He himself shelled Turkish villages within the borders of Turkey — we will not accept his preaching.”