Surprise: 100 U.S. nukes based in Istanbul with double-key security system
ANKARA — The United States was said to be maintaining a nuclear
weapons arsenal in a Turkish city.
A former Turkish ambassador said the United States has deployed dozens
of tactical nuclear weapons in Istanbul. Taner Baytok, who also had been a
consultant to the Turkish Defense Ministry, said the weapons were under the
protection of a double-key system to prevent unauthorized firing.
"One of the keys is in the United States and the other in the host
country, in this case Turkey," Baytok said on April 5. "During war time
these weapons are fired with this double-key system."
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Turkey was said to harbor up to 100 U.S. nuclear weapons as
part of NATO. But the warheads were long believed to have been based at
the Turkish air base at Incirlik rather than Istanbul, the largest city in
Turkey.
Baytok said some of the tactical weapons were located in Istanbul while
others were in cities near the Black Sea. He defined tactical weapons as
those designed to strike former Warsaw Pact states in Europe.
Neither Turkey nor the United States responded to Baytok's assertion. In
1972, he said, Ankara issued its only decision regarding the U.S. nuclear
weapons arsenal.
"It [the 1972 decision] says no changes will be made on the nuclear
weapons in Turkey unless necessary," Baytok said. "This means we haven't
received new nuclear weapons nor we have returned the old ones."
