Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar met with U.S. National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien on Wednesday in Turkey's capital amid ongoing anti-terror operation in northern Syria.
According to the Turkish Defense Ministry, they discussed the latest developments in northern Syria and the planned safe zone there and exchanged views on defense and security issues.
"Information emerged that terror groups are intending to use chemical weapons and blame it on Turkish military," Akar said after the meeting.
"Turkish military does not have any chemical weapon in its inventory, everybody knows this," the minister said.
Akar noted that Turkey gives "great importance" not only to the security of the country and nation, but also to the security of other religious and ethnic groups such as Kurds, Arabs, Assyrians, Christians, Arameans, Yazidis and Chaldeans living in the region.
Ankara plans to resettle 2 million Syrians in a 30-kilometer (19-mile) wide proposed safe zone in Syria stretching from the Euphrates River to the Iraqi border, including Manbij.
Turkey launched Operation Peace Spring, the third in a series of cross-border anti-terror operations in northern Syria targeting terrorists affiliated with Daesh and the PKK's Syrian offshoot the People's Protection Units (YPG), on October 9 at 4 p.m.
The operation, conducted in line with the country's right to self-defense borne out of international law and U.N. Security Council resolutions, aims to establish a terror-free safe zone for Syrians return in the area east of the Euphrates River controlled by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is dominated by YPG terrorists.
The PKK — listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union — has waged a terror campaign against Turkey for more than 30 years, resulting in the deaths of nearly 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.
