Turkish leader says Syria government blame clear

Turkey’s president says it’s clear that Syria’s government carried out Tuesday’s chemical attack in northern Syria and called on Russia to stop supporting Bashar Assad’s government.

In a live interview on 24 TV Saturday night, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan rejected Syria’s denial of using chemical weapons. “They say it came from the depot of a terror organization there. It has nothing to do with it,” he said.

“We have the radar information and we have the forensic reports. Some say Syria does not have chemical weapons. Of course it does. It’s clear which planes dropped it.” He said NATO has all the radar records as well.

The chemical attack in Khan Sheikhoun killed 87 people and prompted the U.S. to fire 59 missiles early Friday to strike a Syrian air base.

Erdogan expressed support for the U.S. missile strike on Shayrat air base, but said it should not end there, and asked Russia to join the effort. He said, “Russia should also join this and should stop supporting Assad.”

Syrian government still has chemical weapons capacity

In this context, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Tuesday that Ankara’s findings showed the Syrian government still possessed chemical weapons capacity and urged for measures to prevent its potential usage.

Speaking to state-run broadcaster TRT Haber in Italy, Cavusoglu also said a transition government was urgently needed in Syria and that risks of chemical weapons would continue as long as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad remained in power.