Turkey Shipped 47 Tons of Arms to Syria in Last 5 Months

The U.N. records show that Turkey has sent varying amounts of guns to the Syria militants over the past few months.

Based on data from the UN Commodity Trade Statistics Database (UN Comtrade), Turkey sent different amounts of guns, including shotguns and hunting rifles, to the militants, with the highest reaching nearly 29 tons in September alone.

The amount accounts for weapon shipments since June 2013 only.

Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Levent Gumrukcu initially denied the statistics, but later confirmed that the UN figures were based on previous records from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK).

In November, Turkish security forces confiscated a truck carrying nearly 1,000 rocket heads in the southern city of Adana near the Syrian border.

At the time, the Adana governor claimed that the operation proved Turkey was not supporting radical groups in Syria.

Also in November, Turkish authorities seized a large quantity of chemicals on the country’s border with Syria, stating that the chemicals “could be transformed into weapons.”

Turkey’s army said in a statement that a convoy of three vehicles attempted to smuggle the chemicals across the border near the southeastern town of Reyhanli.

The war in Syria started in March 2011, when pro-reform protests turned into a massive insurgency following the intervention of Western and regional states.

The unrest, which took in terrorist groups from across Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, has transpired as one of the bloodiest conflicts in recent history.

According to the United Nations, more than 120,000 people have been killed and millions displaced due to the turmoil that has gripped Syria for over two years.