Thread by @EliotHiggins

This appears to be pro-Kurdish protestors, almost certainly in relation to attempts to get Turkey investigated for alleged chemical weapon us against Kurdish forces.

https://twitter.com/annaholligan/status/1466733259174428673

I've contacted the KCK to ask to see the evidence they've collected, considering they're claiming 300+ attacks over the last several months what I received wasn't very compelling, especially when there's accusations of Sulphur Mustard and Tabun use.

Given the number of alleged attacks and the fact chemical weapons generally leave fairly intact munition casings the images that were shared with me were not compelling, some captured unused riot control grenades and a munition that was marked as containing an explosive fill.

Also a lot of videos of smoke filled tunnels, which could be from a variety of sources, not necessarily chemical weapons, and allegations of white phosphorus use, which isn't part of the Chemical Weapons Convention.

As for the allegation of Sulphur Mustard use, there's no images of the very distinctive blistered you expect to see from that, so that also raises question about the allegations.

I'd hope if there's more compelling evidence that it can be made public as soon as possible, especially given the seriousness of the accusations, and failing to do so will only undermine the allegations being made against Turkey.

I'd also note that many of the people in the West pushing these allegations are the same people who denied much better documented chemical attacks, which doesn't help counter the notion this is more about politics than serious accountability efforts.

Just an example of the poor quality of evidence, this image has been in heavy circulation, even featured in the Morning Star's coverage, but ammonium nitrate is an explosive fill, not a chemical agent. Promoting these images as evidence of CW use does nothing to help your cause.

This image shows 40mm munitions produced by Combined Systems, who use red markings to indicate OC gas (aka pepper spray), and certainly don't produce munitions filled with Tabun and Sulphur Mustard combinedsystems.com/products/page/…

Given that the alleged chemicals used include Sulphur Mustard and the nerve agent Tabun, it wouldn't really help their case they've only been able to show munitions that are explosive fills and OC gas.

Keep in mind, as we saw in Syria, chemical weapons tend to leave a lot of munition remains, as they're designed to distribute chemical agents, not cause huge explosions that would destroy the munition.