TURKEY STATEMENT BY THE DELEGATION OF THE REPUBLIC OF TURKEY AT THE FIFTY-EIGHTH MEETING OF THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL

TURKEY STATEMENT BY THE DELEGATION OF THE REPUBLIC OF TURKEY AT THE FIFTY-EIGHTH MEETING OF THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL Thank you Mr Chairperson, Once again, we were shocked by the brutal chemical weapons attack in the Syrian Arab Republic on the evening of 7 April 2018, which this time targeted Douma in eastern Gouta in which many civilians including children lost their lives. Turkey condemns this barbaric attack in strongest terms. The attack was largely suspected to have been carried out by the Syrian regime which has a well-documented record of the use of chemical weapons against its obligations emanating from the Chemical Weapons Convention. The regime has officially been attributed responsible of using chemical weapons against its own people on more than three occasions by the United Nations-OPCW Joint Investigative Mechanism. It is in this framework that Turkey believes the operation carried out on 14 April by the United States of America, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and France constitutes an appropriate response to the chemical weapons attack which caused the deaths of many civilians in Douma on 7 April. We welcomed the operation because we believe that this action has eased humanity’s conscience in the face of the recent attack in Douma. We also welcomed the decision of the Director-General to immediately investigate the attack and dispatch a Fact-Finding Mission team. We look forward to the findings of the mission. Turkey believes it is of critical importance that such crimes do not go unpunished and that accountability is ensured in order to prevent the recurrence of similar attacks in the Syrian Arab Republic or elsewhere. This recent attack one more time revealed that it is essential for the international community, in particular the United Nations Security Council members, to compromise on joint steps to ensure that the use of chemical weapons is punished . EC-M-58/NAT.18 page 2 On a final note, Turkey aligns itself with the European Union statement delivered by the Ambassador of Bulgaria. I would like to request that this statement be circulated as an official document of this meeting of the Executive Council and be posted on the external server and the website. Thank you.