Turkey welcomes, as a matter of principle, the dismantling of all weapons of mass destruction in the world and in our region, the chemical weapons in particular.Therefore, the agreement reached today in Geneva between the United States and the Russian Federation regarding the chemical weapons possesed by the Syrian regime was welcomed as a positive step and assessed carefuly.

Placing the chemical weapons in the Syrian regime's inventory under international control and destroying them is extremely important as it will enable the elimination of a threat to regional and global peace and security.

This agreement must not be exploited by the Syrian regime and must not turn to a process by which the regime would gain time to carry out new massacres against its people. The announced timeframe is lenghty and susceptible to the exploitation of the regime.

The sanctions that will be imposed in case the regime does not rapidly and strictly fulfill its obligations and the agreement comes to naught should be spelt out clearly from the start.

The implementation of this agreement must be ensured by the United Nations Security Council.

On the other hand, this agreement should not be perceived as the final solution to the Syrian crisis and the massacres committed by the regime without resorting to chemical weapons must absolutely be prevented.

The ultimate goal in Syria must be to end the crimes against humanity that have been perpetrated in this country by the regime over nearly three years, to fulfill the legitimate demands of the population and to enable the people of Syria to establish a legitimate administration. 

Thus, the Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki-Moon declared in a statement made yesterday that “Bashar al-Assad has committed many crimes against humanity over the last two years” and that “there will be surely the process of accountability for those who commited these crimes in Syria”. We totally agree with this statement of the Secretary General.