The ratification by the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation of START II Treaty, which constitutes an important milestone in the restraint of strategic weapons between the United States of America and the Russian Federation, is highly appreciated by Turkey.
START II Treaty, with its intrinsic value for the preservation of stability and global security, will be complementary to the START I Treaty of 1991 and other legal arrangements consummated in this context. In the aftermath of the START I Treaty which entered into force in 1994 and by which, significant reductions in the number of strategic arms were achieved, ratification by the State Duma of START II Treaty foreseeing further reductions is to pave the way for meeting the expectations of the public opinion towards START III negotiations.
Turkey, attaching great importance to the non-proliferation of all weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and their delivery means, has been a Party, since 1980, to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), the locus of the current nuclear disarmament regime. Turkey also concluded the ratification procedure of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) in February 2000.
Turkey appreciates the important step taken forward by the Russian State Duma for the ratification of START II Treaty, and hopes that this will have positive implications for the ratification procedures of other disarmament Agreements and for similar negotiations in this context.