Turkish Foreign Ministry claims Syria still has chemical weapons capacity
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said that Syrian government still possesses the capacity to produce and use chemical weapons.
"According to our data, the Syrian regime still possesses chemical weapons capacity. The regime of Bashar al-Assad should stop using chemical weapons, as well as traditional weapons against the opposition," Reuters quotes him as saying.
Earlier, Çavuşoğlu had a conversation with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov. The parties came to the conclusion that it is necessary to investigate the incident involving the use of chemical weapons in Syria. In addition, the head of the Turkish Foreign Ministry urged Moscow to abandon support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
On a related note, the Minister of Health of Turkey, Recep Akdağ, confirmed that sarin poison gas was used in Syrian Idlib.
The chemical weapons attack in question took place in the town of Khan Shaykhun in the province of Idlib on April 4. More than 100 civilians were killed while 500 more people were injured, mostly children.