Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of allegations that the government of Turkey is deploying chemical weapons in northern Iraq; and what plans they have to support an independent inquiry into their deployment by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

The United Kingdom opposes the use of chemical weapons in all circumstances. We take any credible evidence of the use of chemical weapons very seriously. We have been monitoring the recent allegations of chemical weapons use in northern Iraq but the allegations remain unsubstantiated. Any evidence should be shared with States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention and provided through appropriate channels to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Technical Secretariat.