SULAIMANI (ESTA) — President Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey’s armed forces have never used chemical weapons and that legal action would be taken against those who make such allegations, broadcaster NTV reported on Friday.
Media close to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group published videos this week that it said showed chemical weapons being used by the Turkish army against the PKK in northern Iraq.
Separately, an international medical groups’ federation published a report this month seeking an independent investigation of possible violations of the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention.
“Our armed forces have not resorted to using chemical weapons to this day,” NTV quoted Erdogan as telling reporters on his plane returning from a trip to Azerbaijan.
The PKK is designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the European Union, and the United States. More than 40,000 people have been killed in the fallout from the insurgency that it launched against the Turkish state in 1984.
