Arms control and disarmament critical: Turkiye

Cooperation with regard to arms control and disarmament has become even more crucial as Europe faces its worst crisis since the Cold War, said Turkiye’s deputy foreign minister Sedat Onal.

He was speaking on the second day of the Geneva-based Conference on Disarmament (CD) meeting. Sedat Onal reiterated Turkiye’s support for Ukraine’s “sovereignty, territorial integrity and political unity.”

“We are now facing the worst security crisis in Europe after the Cold War,” Onal said.

“Agreements and commitments that once contributed to our collective security are being challenged.”

In such testing times, the Turkish official said, cooperation in arms control and disarmament has “become all the more crucial.”

He also said that the re-emergence of the use of chemical weapons is a cause for grave concern.

Onal said that for the Conference on Disarmament to be effective, its negotiating mandate needs to be restored.

“Once this is realized, the CD could start negotiations on a non-discriminatory and verifiable treaty to ban the production of fissile material, which continues to be one of our priorities,” he added.

Turkiye sees the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) as the cornerstone of the disarmament and non-proliferation regime.

It takes part in the Non-proliferation and Disarmament Initiative, which has produced a set of recommendations for “the Review Conference.”

“While calling on all relevant parties to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, we welcome the extension of the New START (Strategic Arms Reductions Treaty,” Onal said.