According to Fox News, Turkish authorities have recently seized a large quantity of chemicals which "could be transformed into weapons".
The haul of sulphur and another unidentified substance will be examined by a team of army specialists, a Turkish army statement said.
Accordingly, the main Turkish opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has raised questions over the seizure of the said chemical material, along with barrels of unidentified cargo, in vehicles which attempted to illegally cross the border from the Turkish side to the Syrian side over the weekend.
The Turkish Hurriyet Daily quoted CHP Deputy Chair Faruk Loğoğlu as saying that “One person has been arrested. Barrels which are suspected to contain chemical material were inside the vehicles. Traffic was from Turkey to Syria. Do not be surprised if a statement suggesting that the arrested person is a Syrian spy comes from the government,”
Loğoğlu voiced doubt that a case looking into allegations that radical terrorist groups in Syria were seeking to procure materials that could be used to produce highly toxic sarin gas was being covered up.
Meanwhile, CHP deputy Hurşit Güneş criticized the release of the primary suspect in the same case after a hearing by a local court in Adana on Oct. 30.
“We want this case not to be closed. If the case in Adana is closed and these terrorist elements are acquitted, then it will be a shame for Turkey. Turkey cannot be a place where al-Qaeda elements can be nurtured and can get rest,” Güneş said.
The suspect to whom Güneş referred, a 35-year-old Syrian citizen identified as Hytham Qassap, was accused of establishing a connection with a network in Turkey to convey chemical materials for the al-Qaeda linked al-Nusra Front and jihadist Ahrar al-Sham Brigades.
The indictment was based on the probe into chemicals seized in the southern province of Iskenderun late in May. It also contained Qassap’s testimony in which he allegedly confessed his links with the Ahrar al-Sham Brigades and moved to the city of Antakya following the instructions of its leader, Abu Walid.
Recently, the Financial Times reported that al-Qaeda affiliated terrorists are in Turkey to " rest, recover and regroup before the next onslaught in Syria … to wage jihad….Four fighters from the Syrian city of Homs sit cross-legged on the floor of their cramped sleeping quarters. On the wall beside them are the flags of the Syrian opposition, Turkey and the black flag of jihad. The men effusively praise Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey’s prime minister, for what they say is the free passage Ankara has allowed them over the border. ‘Who is our father? Who is our father?’ asks Abu Mahir, a fighter for a group known as the Farouk Brigades. ‘Father Erdogan; we worship him,’ the other men reply."
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