Turkey not against India’s membership in NSG, Turkish FM says

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

Turkish FM Davutoğlu (R) shakes hand with his Indian counterpart Khurshid. AA photo

Turkey does not object to India’s quest for membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), but the prerequisite of being party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) should be resolved first, according to Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu.

“Turkey does not hold any reservations against the membership of any country in the NSG,” Davutoğlu said July 24 at a joint press conference with Indian Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid.

Stressing that Turkey’s stance on nuclear policy was very open, the minister said the region, as well as the world, should be cleared of nuclear weapons.

“But we don’t want any restriction on peaceful nuclear technology,” he added.

“Turkey does not object to India’s membership to the NSG, but the issue is related to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT),” Davutoğlu said, adding that Turkey and India had decided to work together in order to realize India’s membership in the NSG.

“Turkey’s engagement with Pakistan has nothing to do with India,” Davutoğlu said, in reply to claims that Ankara asked India for its assurance on non-proliferation, while Turkey was pushing the case for Pakistan to enhance its engagement with the global nuclear body.

The NSG has decided to constrain transfers of enrichment and reprocessing technology to non-NPT nations, while India is not a signatory to the NPT.