Emboldened, Turkey eyes nuclear weapons

Before his country’s incursion into northern Syria, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey voiced a larger ambition: pursuing a nuclear weapon.

With Turkey in confrontation with its NATO allies, his comments have taken on new meaning.

The country already has the makings of a bomb program — uranium deposits and research reactors, as well as a long-delayed reactor under construction. Experts said it would take several years to get to a weapon (unless Mr. Erdogan bought one).

About 50 American nuclear weapons are kept at an air base that belongs to Turkey. If U.S.-Turkish relations deteriorated, access to that base would not be assured.

Related: The U.S. accelerated a withdrawal of forces from northern Syria today, although Defense Secretary Mark Esper said a small force of American troops could remain in order to prevent oil fields from falling into the hands of the Islamic State.