Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Bashar al Assad must go on trial at the International Court of Justice in The Hague for the crimes he has committed against the Syrian people over more than five years.
In a speech broadcasted live on Wednesday, Erdogan slammed the stance of Western governments on Syria in which he said around 500,000 people have been killed by both conventional and chemical weapons.
“Those who razed Iraq to the ground on the allegation that it possessed chemical weapons ignore crimes involving such weapons in Syria,” Erdogan added, criticizing the UN Security Council and international actors.
Erdogan pointed out that Syria, a country with such great civilization and rich history, has been reduced to rubble, but the people associated with the regime still roam the world freely.
“500,000 people have been killed in the Syrian conflict by conventional weapons, Assad must be handed over to the International Court of Justice in The Hague,” Erdogan said.
Stressing that more people in Syria were killed by conventional weapons than chemical attacks, Erdogan questioned whether using conventional weapons legitimized the killing in Syria and said the West “only considers chemical attacks” as important.
Erdogan asked what does it matter if the weapons are conventional or chemical when the result is death. (Source: Anadolu Agency)