Turkey welcomes dismantling of Chemical weapons in Syria

Turkish President Abdullah Gul welcomed on Friday the dismantling of chemical weapons in Syria, asserting his country's support to such operation in the southern neighbor. President Gul made his remarks in a speech at the 60th Pugwash Conference on Science and World Affairs, expressing hope that the dismantling operation would boost regional cooperation that would as a result eliminate all weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in the Middle East. "As part of this region, Turkey opposes all WMD and sides with their destruction. "We believe that the possession of these kinds of weapons and efforts to develop new ones will pave the way for a new regional race. "We believe that this will threaten international peace and security," President Gul added. For his part, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu stressed importance of having nuclear free Middle East, including the criminalizing use of such weapons, citing the hundreds of people that were killed by chemical weapons in Syria. The minister reiterated his country rejection to use those types of weapons in the ongoing conflict in Syria, which has so far killed more than 100,000 people and displaced millions others. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, addressing the conference, said that eliminating WMD was necessary for the world and international security. The minister added that Iran would not possess a nuclear weapon, and such claims were dangerous because his country never used any chemical weapons.