ANKARA - OPCW maintains its silence despite the applications and documents submitted regarding Turkey's chemical weapons attacks. Turkey, on the other hand, continues to deny the use of chemicals despite the rising reactions.

 

The use of chemical weapons, which was considered as a crime against humanity, was first banned with the "Protocol on the Prohibition of the Use of Asphyxiant, Toxic and Similar Gases and Bacteriological Means in Warfare (Geneva Protocol)" dated June 17, 1925. Despite the Geneva Protocol, the use of chemical weapons in wars and armed conflicts could not be prevented, and after long discussions, the "Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons (CWC)" was prepared at the United Nations (UN) in 1993. Turkey put this convention into effect on April 29, 1997. Turkey also adopted a special law with the same name, dated December 14, 2006 and numbered 5564. Chemical substances are defined as weapons in the Turkish Penal Code (TCK), and crimes committed with this weapon are considered as qualified crimes. In accordance with the conventions to which Turkey is a party and its domestic law, the use of chemical weapons should be investigated by authorized prosecutors.

 

Despite the agreements and protocols it signed, Turkey did not give up on the use of chemical and prohibited weapons. Turkey has come up with the use of chemical weapons many times since the Dersim Massacre. Turkey also heavily uses chemical and banned weapons in the attacks launched on April 17 against the Zap, Avaşîn and Metina regions of the Federated Kurdistan Region. Despite all the information, findings, documents and reports, Turkey rejected the use of chemical weapons from the most authoritative sources and was content with announcing that it would not be investigated.

 

In the 8-month period, we have compiled the investigations, reports, documents that have been revealed, as well as the applications and statements regarding the use of chemical weapons.

 

HPG MEMBERS WHO LOST THEIR LIVES

 

The attacks launched by Turkey on the Zap, Avaşîn and Metina regions on April 17 in partnership with the KDP have left 8 months behind. According to the balance sheet released by the People's Defense Center (HSM) in the Fırat News Agency (ANF), 2 thousand 744 soldiers and village rangers lost their lives and 11 helicopters were shot down. It was recorded that Turkey used prohibited weapons 3,152 times in the 8-month period.

 

According to the information in the ANF; It announced that the members of HPG and YJA-Star lost their lives with the use of chemical weapons and banned explosives on  November 5, 17 in August, September and October, and 27 on different dates. Information was also shared that civilian settlements were affected by chemical weapons attacks. In the first months of the attack, 548 people in the Behdinan region applied to the hospitals in Duhok and its surroundings with the complaint that they were affected by chemical weapons. KDP, which did not disclose the records in the hospitals, also tried to hide the use of chemical weapons by preventing non-governmental organizations and journalists from going to the region.

 

DEMONSTRATION IN FRONT OF UN AND OPCW

 

Kurds and their friends held sit-ins in front of the United Nations (UN) on April 27 and October 26 against the attacks. Thousands of people gathered in the Silopya district of Sirnex and marched towards the Habur Border Gate under the leadership of the Peace Mothers Council. In line with the decision taken by the European Kurdish Women's Movement (TJK-E), Belgian Democratic Kurdish Society Council (NAV-BEL) and Kurdistan Democratic Society Council (DEM-NED) in early May, every Tuesday and Thursday until June 30, the Netherlands was held in front of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in Den Haag, Turkey.

 

HUNGER STRIKE AGAINST CHEMICALS

 

A protest against the use of chemical weapons also came from prisons. Prisoners in Diyarbakır High Security Prison No. 1 went on a five-day, alternately alternating hunger strike on October 24 to protest Turkey's chemical attacks, and women imprisoned in Bakırköy Women's Closed Prison went on a three-day hunger strike on October 26. 

 

THE CHEMICAL WEAPON ATTACKS WERE DOCUMENTED

 

The chemical weapons attacks in question were documented by the HPG and presented to the public through the ANF. The footages of the effects of Turkey's chemical weapons attack on 2 HPG members was released on October 18. As of October, the news and video reminding that 2,476 banned and chemical weapons have been used in the last 6 months, revealed how 2 HPG members exposed to chemical weapons were affected and the testimonies of those who witnessed the experiences of HPG members who were exposed to chemical weapons.

 

HPG announced in the statement made in the ANF on December 27 that the chemical weapons attack, in which 11 HPG and YJA-Star members lost their lives, was also documented with footages, but they did not find it appropriate to share the footages with the public at the moment and they could give them to the relevant institutions to investigate.

 

CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATIONS

 

Non-governmental organizations and Kurds in the Federated Kurdistan Region have reported the bodies of HPG members who lost their lives as a result of chemical weapons attacks, and many documents and findings from the scene. The completed report was sent to 28 international non-governmental organizations and many international institutions, including the United States (USA) and European Union (EU) member countries.

 

COMMISSION IN THE IRAQ PARLIAMENT

 

A special commission was established in the Iraqi Parliament on November 16 to investigate Turkey's use of chemical weapons. The commission, which includes representatives from the Ministry of Defense, the Iraqi Parliament's Public Security and Defense Commission and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was tasked with collecting documents and findings related to chemical weapons. However, while no concrete steps have been taken so far, it has been stated that the work of the commission has been blocked by pro-Turkey parties and names in the parliament.

 

REPORT FROM IPPNW

 

International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), which conducted investigations in the Federated Kurdistan Region on September 20-27, prepared a report on chemical weapons attacks. The report, published on October 12, noted that "there is some indirect evidence of violations of the Chemical Weapons Convention". The IPPNW also called on the OPCW and the UN to review the findings on the use of chemical weapons.

 

APPLICATION FROM 153 NAMES

 

Following the statements and shared footages, 153 names, 44 Iraqis and 65 women activists, including intellectuals, writers, parliamentarians, journalists, university lecturers, together with the Kurdistan Communities Union (Koma Civakên Kurdistan-KCK) and HPG, investigated the use of chemical weapons in Turkey. In a letter to the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs and the OPCW Executive Committee. Kurds in Europe also demanded that a delegation be sent to the Federated Kurdistan Region with their march from the Hague Court of Justice to the OPCW against the use of chemical weapons.

 

REQUEST FOR RESEARCH COMMISSION

 

Former Belgian minister of state and lawyer Dr. Van Steenbrugge Advocaten Law Firm, headed by Johan Vande Lanotte, applied to the UN Secretariat General with a letter of invitation on behalf of the Coalition Against the Use of Chemical Weapons in Kurdistan, following reports of chemical weapons use. In the application, the UN Secretariat requested the elimination of the allegations with a Truth Research Commission composed of member states.

 

APPLICATION TO OPCW

 

German Left Party (Die Linke) MP Gökay Akbulut also applied to OPCW on October 22 regarding the use of chemical weapons. In the letter sent to Germany's representative in OPCW, Ambassador Thomas Schieb, the IPPNW report pointed to the footages of PKK members who lost their lives and requested an investigation.

 

RESPONSE FROM OPCW

 

OPCW, an intergovernmental organization headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands, encourages countries that have signed the Chemical Weapons Convention, which prohibits the use of chemical weapons, to comply with the convention's rules and to destroy their chemical weapons. It evaluates the inspections of countries using chemical weapons. However, OPCW remained silent against the applications and calls. When asked by JINNEWS about the use of chemical weapons, which reached the OPCW, the answer was "We cannot investigate the allegations unless the states parties request investigation and investigation".

 

STATEMENTS OF AKAR

 

The parliamentary questions submitted by the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) MPs on Turkey's use of chemical weapons on different dates were returned, and it was said that "Issues that cannot be asked". The use of chemical weapons, which is also the main agenda in the budget negotiations, was asked to Defense Minister Hulusi Akar. Some statements came from Akar during the budget negotiations. When HDP MPs asked about chemical weapons attacks in the budget negotiations of the Ministry of Defense, Akar said: "We don't have it in our inventory," and openly admitted that "tear gas" was used. Akar, on the investigation of the use of chemical weapons, said, "We have the capacity to control ourselves, to evaluate ourselves, we do not accept anyone from outside." However, in the continuation of the same speech, Akar claimed that an investigation was carried out on the use of chemical weapons by a committee on November 24 and said, “We formed a delegation, the committee went, made the examinations and measurements, they compiled all of them, collected them, brought them to the laboratory, here they were given to the Ministry of Health. We now have the report that there are no chemicals in any of them.”

 

HSM REFUTED THE STATEMENT

 

HSM Headquarters Command refuted Akar's statements and stated that chemical weapons were used near Sîda Village in Şêladize Subdistrict of Amediye district of Federated Kurdistan Region on December 9.