Turkey reassured Israel yesterday that it opposed Iran acquiring nuclear weapons and said it wanted to see the whole Middle East region freed of the atomic threat. "Turkey is completely against the proliferation of nuclear weapons," Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul told a joint news conference with his visiting Israeli counterpart Tzipi Livni, replying to a question about Iran. "We encourage cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and believe that especially countries signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) have a responsibility to act with full transparency."