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Netanyahu shuns Obama's atom summit to avoid Erdoğan censure
Opposing sanctions as a way of resolving the dispute between neighboring Iran and Western powers over the Iran's controversial nuclear program, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has firmly supported exhausting diplomatic efforts to resolve the dispute. Erdoğan, meanwhile, says Israel, which is widely believed to possess nuclear weapons although it has never openly acknowledged it, should also be facing pressure to get rid of them.
Israel is believed to be the only nuclear-armed power in the Middle East but has never confirmed or denied it. It has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Netanyahu saw Obama at the White House late last month to discuss the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process. But they failed to see eye-to-eye, and bilateral ties remain strained.
“The prime minister decided to cancel his trip to Washington to attend the nuclear conference next week after learning that some countries, including Egypt and Turkey, plan to say Israel must sign the NPT,” the Israeli official said.
In Ankara, Turkish diplomatic sources, approached by Today’s Zaman admitted that Erdoğan would raise the issue of Israel’s responsibility concerning the issue since he principally opposes the proliferation of nuclear weapons within the entire region.
“Our prime minister has always stated that Turkey doesn’t want any nuclear weapons in the region, and he will most probably repeat this during the meeting in Washington,” the same diplomatic sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, added.
Speaking to reporters in the Central Anatolian province of Konya, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu declined to comment on the Israeli announcement, saying it is up to individual countries to decide which summit to attend and at which level.
While noting that the summit at the White House would also serve as a kind of preparatory gathering for a major conference to be held at UN headquarters in early May to review the NPT, the sources recalled Erdoğan’s remarks on implementation of the NPT.
In October 2009, ahead of an official visit to Iran, Erdoğan had accused the West of treating Iran “unfairly,” warning that negative approaches towards the Islamic republic over its controversial nuclear program would harm regional peace.
At the time, he said it was “unfair and unjust” to put pressure on Iran, which lets experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) visit its nuclear sites, while other countries have such weapons. He did not mention any particular country but was apparently referring to Israel, which is not a member of the IAEA and not a party to the NPT, despite having nuclear power.
In Jerusalem, officials said Deputy Israeli Prime Minister Dan Meridor will stand in for Netanyahu at the Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) on April 12-13.
Netanyahu’s attendance would have been the first by an Israeli premier at an international nuclear forum. Aides said he originally agreed to go after being reassured by the United States that the NSS communiqué would focus on efforts to secure fissile material with no allusions to Israel’s undeclared arms.
The NSS had also offered Netanyahu an opportunity to drum up support for sanctions against arch-foe Iran, which the West suspects of seeking nuclear weapons despite denials from Tehran. Neither Iran nor North Korea will attend the NSS.
Based on estimates of the plutonium production capacity of its Dimona reactor, Israel may have stockpiled 80 to 200 nuclear warheads since the late 1960s, independent experts say.
Israeli leaders do not comment on this capability under an “ambiguity” policy billed as warding off enemies while avoiding the kind of provocations that can trigger regional arms races. The official reticence, and its tacit acceptance by the United States, has long aggrieved Arab and Muslim powers.
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