Nuclear Latency: The Turkish Case

Abstract

Turkey's interest in nuclear technology has increased over the years. The aim of this article is to summarize, synthetize, update, and contextualize Turkey's nonproliferation policies and link it to the broader discussion on nuclear latency. The article first attempts to show the shortcomings of several latency arguments by overviewing the factors that affect Turkey's latency status. The main finding of the article is that Turkey's latency in terms of technology will increase, yet that increase cannot be predicted as potent enough to result in latency potential in terms of a nuclear weapons program in the short-and medium-term without a serious change in international and domestic politics.

From Norms Taker to Norms Breaker: A Comparative Study of Turkey's Nuclear Discourses Before and after the Ostensible Coup of 2016

“…Turkey imports nearly all its gas and oil, meaning the country is heavily dependent on international agreements and infrastructure to meet its energy needs and economic growth agenda -and it has long lobbied for domestic nuclear power to address this issue (Udum 2010, 367). However, rather than examining Turkey's position on nuclear proliferation from a technical perspective (see Mehmetçik 2018), this paper seeks to examine the government's public rhetoric on its own terms. We argue that there is value in closer scrutiny of primary source materials because individual leaders will not only be influenced by the 'why' (such as environment, economy or defence) but also the 'when' and 'how' (Hymans 2006a).…”