Istanbul meet calls for nuke weapon-free zone in Mid East
ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu (C) poses for a family photo along with other participants at the the nuclear meeting in Istanbul. the meeting calls on all states to reduce and eventually eliminate all types of nuclear weapons. DHA photo
The Istanbul meeting of the Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Initiative (NPDI) has given support to the implementation of the 1995 Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) resolution on the establishment of a zone free of nuclear weapons and all other weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East. It also suggested convening of a conference this year to be attended by all states of the region.The foreign ministers of the NPDI gathered in Istanbul over the weekend to assess the outcomes of the first meeting of the Preparatory Committee for the 2015 NPT Review Conference (RevCon), held in Vienna last month.
A statement released by the meeting called on all nuclear-weapon states to intensify efforts to reduce and eventually eliminate all types of nuclear weapons, deployed and non-deployed, in a transparent, verifiable and irreversible manner.
Nuclear-weapons states have a special responsibility in nuclear disarmament, and the development of the draft reporting form is an example of the contribution that the non-nuclear-weapon states can make, the statement said.
The statement expressed “deep concern and frustration with the continued stalemate in the Conference on Disarmament (CD).”
“The CD must agree on and implement a comprehensive Program of Work that starts substantive work on the CDs four core issues, notably the immediate commencement of negotiations on a treaty banning the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons and other nuclear explosive devices (FMCT) on the basis of document CD/1299 and the mandate contained therein,” it said.
