Nuclear Policy and Iran: An Opportunity for Turkey

The question of uranium enrichment lied at the core of the nuclear standoff with Iran. As Turkey strove to create a role for itself in the settlement of this dispute between Iran and the international community, it was doubtful Turkish policymakers were aware of the real political opportunity the crisis had created.

Turkey, a country transitioning to nuclear power that neighbors a crisis-prone Iran and was located in a region where the switch to nuclear power is expected to accelerate, needed to develop a comprehensive nuclear strategy. Such a policy change would strengthen the country’s credentials as an indispensable partner of the United States and the European Union who, in their respective security strategies, had jointly identified nuclear proliferation as a top security challenge.