According to information provided by the press office of the People’s Defense Units (HPG), the Turkish army has carried out a total of 138 attacks with chemical weapons in the last 5 months, as a result of which several fighters have lost their lives. On September 3 alone, three fighters were killed in Gire Sor in the region Avasin. Not only the guerrilla fighters are the target of these atrocities. The village of Hirore was attacked with chemical weapons on September 4 and one family suffered injuries from the attack. The NGO `Christian Peacemaker Teams in Iraq` has confirmed that these injuries were caused by the use of chemical weapons.
Tilsendt af Dansk Kurdisk Kvindeforening
//Dansk version nedenunder
Dear Mr. Director-General Fernando Arias,
we are addressing you today as women from different countries regarding a matter of grave concern. Once again, the Turkish army is facing accusations of having used internationally prohibited weapons. Since April 23, 2021, the Turkish state has been conducting a military offensive in North Iraq against the Kurdish guerrilla and the civilian population. Beyond the fact that this military operation in one of its neighboring country is illegal under international law, Turkey is also committing war crimes by using internationally banned weapons.
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According to information provided by the press office of the People’s Defense Units (HPG), the Turkish army has carried out a total of 138 attacks with chemical weapons in the last 5 months, as a result of which several fighters have lost their lives. On September 3 alone, three fighters were killed in Gire Sor in the region Avasin. Not only the guerrilla fighters are the target of these atrocities. The village of Hirore was attacked with chemical weapons on September 4 and one family suffered injuries from the attack. The NGO `Christian Peacemaker Teams in Iraq` has confirmed that these injuries were caused by the use of chemical weapons.
This is not the first time: already in 2010, 2013 and especially due to a bombing in the North Syrian town of Serekani in 2019, Turkey has been accused of the use of chemical weapons against civilians. Incriminating footage and expert opinions in the international media supported this accusation at the time. On October 17, 2019, Turkey used white phosphorus during its airstrikes on the town of Serekaniye, and dozens of people including children and women were seriously injured. At that time, too, international organizations and the state community remained silent towards Turkey’s crime.
History is full of state atrocities against individuals or ethnic groups because they are exposed to states without protection. To prevent this, international laws and mechanisms such as your organization have been established as an achievement of humanity. But we see that this state of affairs continues because these very laws and mechanisms do not consistently fulfill their obligations. We are sorry to see that neither national nor international law applies when it comes to the Kurds.
Turkey, as a ratifying state of the OPCW, has been carrying out atrocities for years before the eyes of the international public and your organization without being held accountable. The poison gas attack by Saddam Hussein against the Kurdish people in North Iraq in 1988 could have been prevented if his activities had been stopped beforehand. For the more than 5000 victims of the poison gas attack and their relatives in the city of Halabja, it was nothing but a mockery that 15 years later they were used as a pretext for attacking Iraq and for causing even more suffering.
We do not want to aid and abet this crime through inaction. We expect you, as the Director-General of an international organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons, to fulfill your responsibility, to investigate these serious allegations, to take clarifying action and to hold Turkey accountable for its crimes.
Yours Sincerely
//Dansk version
Kære hr. Generaldirektør Fernando Arias.
Vi henvender os til jer i dag som kvinder fra forskellige lande vedrørende et alvorligt spørgsmål, der vækker stærk bekymring. Endnu en gang stilles den tyrkiske hær over for anklager om at have brugt internationalt forbudte våben.
Siden den 23. april 2021 har den tyrkiske stat gennemført en militær offensiv i Nordirak mod den kurdiske guerilla og civilbefolkningen. Ud over det faktum, at denne militære operation i et af Tyrkiets nabolande er ulovligt i henhold til folkeretten, fører Tyrkiet også krig gennem brug af internationalt forbudte våben.
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Ifølge oplysninger fra pressekontoret for Folkets Forsvarsenheder (HPG), har den Tyrkisk hær gennemført i alt 138 angreb med kemiske våben i de sidste 5 måneder. Det har ført til at flere guerilla krigere har mistet livet. Alene den 3. september blev tre krigere dræbt i Gire Sor i regionen Avasin. Ikke kun guerillakrigerne er mål for disse grusomheder. Landsbyen Hirore blev angrebet med kemiske våben den 4. september, og en familie kom til skade under angrebet. NGO’en ‘Christian Peacemaker Teams in Iraq’ har bekræftet, at disse skader var forårsaget af brug af kemiske våben.
Dette er ikke første gang: Allerede i 2010, også i 2013 og især i forbindelse med et bombardement i den nordlige Syriske byen Serekaniye i 2019, er Tyrkiet blevet anklaget for brug af kemiske våben mod civile. Afslørende optagelser og ekspertudtalelser i de internationale medier understøttede dengang anklagerne. Den 17. oktober 2019 brugte Tyrkiet hvidt fosfor under sine luftangreb på byen Serekaniye, og snesevis af mennesker,
herunder børn og kvinder, blev alvorligt såret. Også på det tidspunkt forblev internationale organisationer og nationalstaterne tavse over for Tyrkiets kriminalitet.
Historien er fuld af statslige grusomheder mod enkeltpersoner eller etniske grupper, fordi de udsættes for staternes manglende beskyttelse. For at forhindre dette har man vedtaget internationale love og der er blevet etableret organisationer som jeres, til at skabe bedre vilkår for menneskeheden. Men vi ser, at denne tingenes tilstand alligevel fortsætter, fordi netop disse love og mekanismer ikke konsekvent opfylder de forpligtelser, som de ellers er sat til at varetage. Vi er kede af at se, at hverken national eller international lov gælder, når det kommer til kurderne.
Tyrkiet har som ratificerende stat for OPCW udført grusomheder i årevis for øjnene af både den internationale offentlighed og din organisation uden at blive holdt ansvarlig. Saddam Husseins giftgasangreb mod det kurdiske folk i Nordirak i 1988 kunne være blevet forhindret, hvis hans aktiviteter var blevet stoppet på forhånd. For de mere end 5000 ofre af giftgasangrebet og deres slægtninge i byen Halabja, var det intet andet end en hån, der 15 år senere blev de brugt som påskud til at angribe Irak og til at forårsage endnu mere lidelse.
Vi ønsker ikke at hjælpen til og opklaringen af denne forbrydelse holdes tilbage gennem passivitet. Vi forventer af dig som generaldirektør for en international organisation for forbud mod kemiske våben, at du opfylder dine ansvar ved at undersøge disse alvorlige påstande, ved at gennemføre afklarende handlinger og ved at holde Tyrkiet ansvarlig for sine forbrydelser.
Venlig hilsen
