A new "field of glory" is found by "the buddies", Erdogan and Putin, in the Middle East this time, targeting Israel for nuclear weapons.
Russia for a denuclearized Middle East
Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency, in a related article, noted that Moscow has "picked up" Turkey's signals to start setting up an inspection mechanism to verify Israel's possession of nuclear weapons, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Wednesday.
"We have not received any official proposals on this so far. Therefore, it is premature to make any assessments," Zakharova said in response to a question from Anadolu at a press conference in Moscow.
Russia is a "consistent supporter" of turning the Middle East into a zone free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, and this idea meets the interests of all countries in the region and beyond, she said.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pledged to keep the issue of Israel's nuclear weapons on the global agenda.
Israel maintains a policy of deliberate ambiguity, neither formally denying nor admitting that it has nuclear weapons.
Israeli Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu had earlier told local media that dropping a "nuclear bomb" on the Gaza Strip was "an option".
Moscow in favour of Hamas-Israel hostage deal
Responding to another Anadolu question about Russia's efforts to achieve a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, the spokeswoman pledged to "do everything" to "contribute to de-escalation and future stability."
Zakharova urged both sides to "strictly adhere" to the terms of the current humanitarian ceasefire as it may lead to further contacts aimed at resolving acute humanitarian issues.
Earlier on Wednesday, Qatar's Foreign Ministry announced that an agreement had been reached on a four-day humanitarian pause between Israel and Hamas.
The Qatar-brokered agreement proposes the announcement of a four-day ceasefire, the entry of 300 trucks loaded with humanitarian aid, including fuel, into the Gaza Strip, the release of 50 Israelis held by Hamas in exchange for 150 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
The agreement also allows for an extension of the ceasefire and the possible release of more children and women held by both sides.
Israel launched relentless air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip after a surprise attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on 7 October.
Authorities in Gaza said on Wednesday that the death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks on the besieged enclave since then has exceeded 14,500 people, more than half of them women and children.
The death toll from Israel, meanwhile, is about 1,200, according to official figures."
Erdogan will ask UN Security Council and IAEA for verification of Israel's possession of nuclear weapons
According to the Russian news agency TASS, "Turkey will ask the UN Security Council and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to verify Israel's possession of nuclear weapons, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.
"We will submit initiatives to both the UN Security Council and the IAEA on the issue that threatens the security of the region, especially Turkey," Erdogan said at an economic forum in Algeria, according to the Star newspaper.
Erdogan spoke earlier about the need to verify the presence of nuclear weapons in Israel and the intention to start the process in international structures.
The Turkish president pointed out that Israel openly acknowledges that it possesses nuclear weapons, but international structures, particularly the IAEA and the UN, are not conducting a corresponding investigation.
Erdogan also told the forum that Turkey would make efforts to rebuild Gaza and seek to hold Israel criminally responsible for crimes committed in the Palestinian enclave."
Erdogan's aims
The Turkish President knows that Israel has nuclear weapons and that it relies on them as a last resort for its survival against hostile countries, such as Iran, which has repeatedly stated that it wishes to "wipe it off the map".
Israel's acquisition of nuclear weapons, with the help of the United States, emerged as a necessity after its successive wars with a coalition of Arab states, since these demonstrated that, although Israel had prevailed on the battlefields with conventional weapons, a weapon such as nuclear weapons should be available to Tel Aviv as a deterrent to repeated large-scale wars.
Erdogan is known to want to "set foot" in the Gaza Strip post-war, in line with his plans for a "Homeland of our Heartland" , which includes in Turkish territory even Jerusalem, either as a guarantor force for the Palestinians - we consider this unlikely due to Israel's refusal - or as part of its reconstruction, which is more likely to happen.
Erdogan's aim is to expose Israel internationally for possessing nuclear weapons, demanding either its disarmament or, more importantly, to use this as an argument for Turkey to acquire nuclear weapons, which is the Turkish President's ardent desire.
As we pointed out in an earlier article , the possibility of Turkey acquiring nuclear weapons from Pakistan, with which it has very close relations in conjunction with the long-range Tayfun missiles for launching them, is not a science fiction scenario, but a possible threat in the future for Greece and Cyprus.
Consequently, Erdogan sees the Israeli nuclear weapons case as an opportunity for Turkey to acquire nuclear weapons.
