Turkey
Country Spotlight
Neighbor to multiple current and former proliferators of WMD, Turkey has relied on its NATO membership to guarantee its security. Although Turkey is a non-nuclear weapon state member of the NPT in good standing, Turkey’s president has made occasional public mentions of the country’s right to develop and acquire nuclear weapons.
See Turkey’s performance in
Region Middle East and North Africa
~50 U.S. B61 nuclear bombs stored at Incirlik Air Base
30 Countries seeking Turkish-made unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)
280 km Range of Bora-1 short-range ballistic missile
Nuclear
- Hosts U.S. nuclear weapons as part of NATO nuclear sharing mission
- Calls to remove U.S. nuclear weapons from Incirlik Air Base have increased in recent years
- Construction of a Russian-financed nuclear power plant at Akkuyu began in 2018
Biological
- Member of the Australia Group which controls exports of chemical and biological technology
- No known biological weapons pursuits
Missile
- Develops and produces short-range ballistic missiles
- Plans to extend the range of its Tayfun ballistic missile from 560 km to 1,000 km
- Turkish-made Bayraktar UAVs have been used effectively by the Ukrainian military in the 2022-2023 conflict with Russia
- In May of 2025, Turkey entered talks with the US to purchase AMRAAM missile capabilities and infrastructure.
Chemical
- No known chemical weapons pursuits
- Denies accusations of white phosphorus use during the Syrian Civil War