YEREVAN. – Turkey preserves a long-standing claim for the northern provinces of Syria, this is the reason for Ankara’s readiness to immediately accuse Assad of using chemical weapons, Armenian analyst Ara Papian believes.

Papian, who is heading “Modus Vivendi” center, said chemical weapons are a good excuse for Turkey to maintain military presence in Syria, especially in the border province of Idlib.

Turkey still considers the northern regions of Syria and Iraq illegally torn away and seeks their return, he added. Therefore, Ankara was so willing to support the US attack, although it disagrees with the US on some issues, in particular, the support for the Kurdish forces in Syria.