Türkiye has backed Syria’s efforts to eliminate its remaining chemical weapons while warning that Israeli strikes on suspected sites could endanger civilians and destroy evidence needed to establish accountability.
Speaking at a U.N. Security Council meeting on Sept. 3, Türkiye’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Ahmet Yıldız, described the chemical weapons issue as one of the gravest legacies of the Assad era.
Syria’s willingness to work closely with the international community offered “genuine cause for optimism,” he said.
Yıldız said lasting progress would require practical, gradual and coordinated cooperation with Syrian authorities that took conditions on the ground into account.
He welcomed the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons’ July decision to restore Syria’s rights and privileges, which had been suspended since 2021, as well as agreements covering the verification of chemical weapons facilities.
Yıldız also welcomed the deployment of an OPCW team to Syria to oversee the destruction of Category 3 chemical weapons and said Türkiye awaited its report.
Years of concealment by the former government had complicated efforts to identify, secure and prepare chemical materials for destruction, he said.
Yıldız said Israeli strikes on suspected chemical weapons-related sites had made the task more difficult. Such attacks risked releasing hazardous materials, harming civilians and destroying evidence related to past chemical weapons attacks, he added.
Türkiye would continue helping Syria strengthen its technical and logistical capacity in line with OPCW standards, Yıldız said, adding that the shared goal should be “a Syria that is permanently free of chemical weapons.”
