A confidential two-day conference on combating nuclear terrorism was held in Rabat, Morocco, drawing representatives from the G-8 nations, China, Australia, Kazakhstan, and Türkiye, with the International Atomic Energy Agency and Morocco attending as observers. The gathering grew out of commitments made at the G-8 summit in St. Petersburg the previous July.
Columnist Erdal Safak of Sabah raised the question of why Türkiye received an invitation, pointing to four possible factors: its position along known nuclear-smuggling corridors, the US nuclear arsenal housed at Incirlik Air Base, the regional arms-race dynamic that a nuclear Iran could trigger, and Türkiye's role in implementing the UN International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism.
One complication noted at the meeting was China's opposition to Article 7 of that convention, which allows for military intervention in cases of violation. Separately, a US Defense Department report published four years earlier had reportedly listed China among seven countries for which the Bush administration had drawn up contingency nuclear-strike plans.
Simultaneously, a 25-nation naval exercise launched in the Gulf of Basra focused on intercepting vessels carrying nuclear materials. Türkiye did not participate, having already taken part in a similar 31-country drill held previously in Antalya. Some analysts interpreted both exercises as signals directed at Iran.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in November 2006, in its own words.