ISTANBUL, November 22. /TASS/. Turkey will ask the UN Security Council and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to verify Israel's possession of nuclear weapons, the country’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.

"We will put forward initiatives both in the UN Security Council and in the IAEA on the issue that threatens the security of the region, especially Turkey," the Star newspaper quoted the Turkish leader as saying at an economic forum in Algeria.

Erdogan earlier spoke about the need to verify the presence of nuclear weapons in Israel and the intention to initiate the relevant process in international structures, including after the June 20 government meeting. The Turkish president pointed out that Israel openly recognizes that it possesses nuclear weapons, but international structures, particularly the IAEA and the UN, do not conduct a corresponding investigation.

Erdogan also told the forum that Turkey would make efforts to rebuild Gaza and seek to hold Israel criminally responsible for crimes committed in the Palestinian enclave.