Middle Orient News

The Turkish Foreign Ministry on Thursday rejected allegations that chemical weapons have been sent to neighboring Syria via Turkey, saying the charges are “impossible to take seriously.” “It is out of the question that we show the slightest tolerance for the use, possession and production of chemical weapons,” Foreign Ministry …

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sept. 19 it was essential that a Russia-U.S. deal on eradicating Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal be enforced and that the U.N. Security Council must act on it next week. “The Security Council must be prepared to act next week,” Kerry told reporters. …

Syria has turned over materials to Russia which aim to show a chemical weapons attack last month was carried out by rebels, a top Russian diplomat visiting Damascus and a Syrian official said yesterday. The August 21 attack precipitated the current high tensions over Syria’s chemical weapons and sparked a …

The international community should provide more aid to help Lebanon allocate Syrian refugees, Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Wednesday. “The international community must take its responsibility towards Lebanon, given that the latter has become the first hosting country,” Mikati said.

 Foreign Secretary William Hague and Arab League Secretary General Nabil El-Araby stressed late Wednesday that it was important to implement the US-Russian agreement in regards to the chemical weapons in Syria. A statement by the British Foreign Ministry said that Hague and El-Araby meeting also touched the Mideast peace process …

Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad promised Wednesday he would surrender Syria’s chemical weapons but warned it would take at least a year to do so and cost one billion dollars. His latest appearance came as UN envoys debated

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Wednesday that the threat of military action should remain on the table to make Syria keep its promises on giving up chemical weapons. Speaking after he met British Prime Minister David Cameron in London, Rasmussen welcomed the recent US-Russian agreement under which the …

After the release of a UN report, Turkey claimed to be certain that the chemical weapons attack in Damascus on Aug. 21 was committed by the Syrian regime, both in a written statement released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Tuesday’s statements from Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu. Saying …

The shooting down of a Syrian helicopter by Turkish fighter jets on Monday after it crossed into Turkish airspace will not affect the deal that Washington and Moscow arrived at in Geneva on Syria’s chemical weapons, a senior Turkish diplomat said. When the news of the downing

Turkey’s Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has again slammed the government’s desire to engage in a military operation against Syria, calling for peace in the region.