Putin and Erdogan Support Investigation into Chemical Attack in Syria

The Turkish presidency stated on Thursday that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin supported an investigation into the chemical attack in Syria during a phone call. According to Reuters, the leaders of the two countries expressed their support for the investigations by the international organization 'Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons' regarding the attack in Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib province, which resulted in dozens of deaths last week. This attack occurred last Tuesday, and some reports indicate that 87 people were killed, including 31 children. The Turkish presidency emphasized that Erdogan stated in the phone call that the use of chemical weapons is a crime against humanity. U.S. officials and other Western countries claim that the chemical attack in Khan Sheikhoun was carried out by the Syrian government. In response to this chemical attack, U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a missile strike on a Syrian base last Thursday. Meanwhile, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad claimed that the chemical attack last Tuesday in Khan Sheikhoun was a '100 percent fabricated' event to provide justification for the U.S. attack on the Syrian army. In this context, Russia vetoed a draft resolution in the Security Council regarding the chemical attack in Syria yesterday. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons also announced last year, at the end of its 13-month investigation, that Syrian government forces used chlorine gas and barrel bombs against Syrian citizens during their airstrikes with military helicopters. According to this report, Syrian government forces used toxic substances against citizens in Idlib province in at least three attacks in March and April 2015. Syria joined the international convention prohibiting the use of chemical weapons in 2013 following widespread allegations of using chemical weapons.