Turkey lives in a difficult geography.
We are in a place where great powers jostle without touching each other. We are a buffer country and buffer countries cannot sleep well.
That is why the question is raised from time to time. Should Turkey build nuclear weapons?
In the current global context, the general assessment is no
Because nuclear weapons do not provide security. It only generates fear. It is enough to look at the world. North Korea has gone nuclear but its people are hungry. Pakistan has gone nuclear but its economy is fragile. Iran has reached the nuclear threshold but cannot breathe. Nuclear weapons do not save countries. It only thickens the voice of the rulers at the table.
And the price is high. Sanctions come, isolation sets in, constant surveillance kicks in and the likelihood of being the first target in any crisis increases.
We are not an island nation. We cannot be isolated. We cannot put up walls and shut ourselves in our shells. We cannot wipe out our neighbors. We have to survive by living in this geography.
Turkey's problem is not nuclear shortage. Turkey's problem is long-term thinking. Institutions have no memory. Weakening of merit. Scientists leaving. Young people packing suitcases.
Deterrence in the twenty-first century does not come from the atom bomb. It comes from technology. Countries that produce chips, develop medicines and store energy have a say. Countries that can hold brains, not nuclear warheads, are strong.
There is also this fact. Turkey is a member of NATO. So it is already under the nuclear umbrella. A separate nuclear adventure will not make us safer. It would make us lonelier.
What we need is not bombs. We need state intelligence.
Its army will be strong, yes, but its universities will also work. There will be a defense industry, but scientists will not run away. He will be able to hit the table with his fist, but he will also be able to form sentences.
Because when a bomb explodes, everyone loses.
But when intelligence is lacking, you lose even without a war.
That's where the real danger lies.