ANKARA: Turkey said Wednesday it was treating some 30 people after the gas attack in Syria, adding it had evidence the strike was caused by chemical weapons.
“Since Tuesday ... nearly 30 wounded have been brought for treatment,” Health Minister Recep Akdag said.
He added that two people brought to Turkey had died.
“We have evidence suggesting that the attack in Idlib was a chemical attack,” Akdag said, without giving further detail.
He added the information was being documented and would be sent to the World Health Organization.
The wounded were brought from Idlib through Turkey’s Cilvegozu border gate for the treatment in the Reyhanli district of Turkey’s southern Hatay province.
They were treated by a special team from Turkey’s AFAD emergencies agency using special protective gear.
The attack killed more than 100 people, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday, without saying where the death toll number came from.
Erdogan, who was speaking at a rally in the northwestern province of Bursa, also called Assad a “murderer.” Ankara has long been one of Assad’s most steadfast critics and has repeatedly called for his ouster.
Hours after the attack, Erdogan told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin by phone that “this kind of inhuman attack was unacceptable.”
Erdogan’s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said the incident had been carried out by President Bashar Assad’s regime, adding it was a “war crime and a crime against humanity.”
Turkey has been a major foe of Assad’s regime in Syria throughout the Syrian civil war. But in the last months Ankara has deepened ties with Assad’s ally Russia, co-brokering a cease-fire that until now had drastically reduced the levels of violence.
Yet Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu strongly criticized US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson for saying the fate of Assad was up to the Syrian people.
“Those who say, ‘the people of Syria will decide the fate of Assad’ should see that if it continues this way, there will no longer be anyone to make a decision about Assad,” Cavusoglu said on Tuesday, quoted by state-run news agency Anadolu.
“Since Tuesday ... nearly 30 wounded have been brought for treatment,” Health Minister Recep Akdag said.
He added that two people brought to Turkey had died.
“We have evidence suggesting that the attack in Idlib was a chemical attack,” Akdag said, without giving further detail.
He added the information was being documented and would be sent to the World Health Organization.
The wounded were brought from Idlib through Turkey’s Cilvegozu border gate for the treatment in the Reyhanli district of Turkey’s southern Hatay province.
They were treated by a special team from Turkey’s AFAD emergencies agency using special protective gear.
The attack killed more than 100 people, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday, without saying where the death toll number came from.
Erdogan, who was speaking at a rally in the northwestern province of Bursa, also called Assad a “murderer.” Ankara has long been one of Assad’s most steadfast critics and has repeatedly called for his ouster.
Hours after the attack, Erdogan told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin by phone that “this kind of inhuman attack was unacceptable.”
Erdogan’s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said the incident had been carried out by President Bashar Assad’s regime, adding it was a “war crime and a crime against humanity.”
Turkey has been a major foe of Assad’s regime in Syria throughout the Syrian civil war. But in the last months Ankara has deepened ties with Assad’s ally Russia, co-brokering a cease-fire that until now had drastically reduced the levels of violence.
Yet Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu strongly criticized US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson for saying the fate of Assad was up to the Syrian people.
“Those who say, ‘the people of Syria will decide the fate of Assad’ should see that if it continues this way, there will no longer be anyone to make a decision about Assad,” Cavusoglu said on Tuesday, quoted by state-run news agency Anadolu.
