NEWS CENTER – The dossier “YOUR SILENCE KILLS” enters its final section, which will address international silence and the role of the OPCW. Because it is one thing that fascist Turkey commits these war crimes against humanity and another that the international public is silent about it and the official institution, whose task it is to enforce the observance of the ban on chemical weapons, neither speaks out nor takes action.
This shows that the states that claim to be committed to human rights, the organizations set up to enforce bans that prevent crimes against humanity, are just a facade and their practice, their true interests, are quite different. This face is also very clear in relation to the current attitude of the international powers in relation to Turkey’s invasion of Rojava and southern Kurdistan.
It is obvious that the Kurdish society cannot rely on states or other powers, but can only trust its own strength as a society, as an organized force under the leadership of women and youth, who are trained by the ideology of Chairman Abdullah Ocalan and strengthen Kurdistan’s struggle for freedom with their participation. Because, at present, the only force that can oppose and escape the fascist Turkish regime is the Kurdistan Freedom Guerrilla.
3.2 POISON GAS AND CHEMICAL WEAPONS
3.2.2 PULMONARY AGENTS – GREEN CROSS – GREEN CROSS
3.2.3 YELLOW CROSS MUSTART – YELLOW CROSS – SKIN COMBATANT
MUSTARD GAS- LOST
3.2.4 BLOOD WARFARE AGENT
HYDROGEN CYANIDE – HYDROCYANIC ACID
3.2.5 PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE AGENTS
3.2.6 OCULAR WARFARE AGENTS – WHITE CROSS/DRINKING GAS
3.4.3 ATOMIC DEMOLITION MUNITIONS (ADM)
4.2 THE ROLE OF THE IRAQI GOVERNMENT
4.4 WHERE DO THE WEAPONS COME FROM?
4.4.1 TACTICAL NUKES ARE NATO’S WEAPON
4.5 INTERNATIONAL SILENCE AND THE ROLE OF THE OPCW
In relation to the scale of this war, in that the guerrillas are fighting with simple weapons against a NATO army that can rely on technical and material support from NATO, the hegemonic powers, as well as on support from regional forces again KDP and regional collaborators, the silence that has been maintained in the face of the massive attacks and bombardments from land and air, as well as the brutal war crimes, is in itself a crime against humanity. Mustafa Karasu went in an interview on the scale of the war and made it clear that compared to the Vietnam War due to which massive student protests broke out worldwide in solidarity with the Vietnamese people, far exceeds and stated:
- “Unmanned combat vehicles and aircraft are constantly bombing the resistance areas. There is not a square meter left that has not been bombed. The number of bombs used by the U.S. in Vietnam held up for years. It is said to have been the heaviest bombing in the history of the world. We can say this with simplicity; The sum of bombing by the Turkish state in Kurdistan, especially in recent years, is greater than the sum of bombing in WW1, WW2 and Vietnam in the 20th century. No one should consider this an exaggeration.”
Duran Kalkan also made the scale of the war clear in an interview, saying:
- “Our Central Command of People’s Defense presents balance sheets. Daily, weekly, monthly; that is, everything that happens on the war fronts is published. The balance sheet of the last two months was also shared. It is necessary to think about these balance sheets. It should be known how big the war is. When a missile was fired at Ukraine, the apocalypse broke out, the heads of states of Europe have traveled all the way to Kiev, but 774 chemical attacks and 2,000 airplane attacks of the Turkish state in 60 days are not even that much in the press. Every day there are 200 attacks. What is going to happen? The reality of the war must be seen. We should all get that right. The public has to understand. Especially the Turkish public should understand it properly and learn the necessary lessons. The scale of this war must be seen.”
Duran Kalkan further elaborated on the dimension of the war crimes of AKP-MHP fascism. He criticized that the use of chemical weapons is addressed but nothing further happens. The voice is not raised. He points out that there are documents on the use of chemical weapons and that under the regime of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad chemical weapons were not even found, but the regime was destroyed because of chemical weapons.
In the report of the British journalist Steve Sweeney also drew attention to the silence of the international powers and stated:
- “As the evidence continues to pile up, it is simply untenable for bodies like the OPCW, the UN and NATO to remain silent. I am not a chemical expert, as I had pointed out several times, and neither are those who claim to be victims of such attacks. But the world powers have taken no action. The Kurds are once again victims of imperialism. The world looked the other way when Saddam gassed the Kurds in Halebce. We must not allow this to happen again. It is clear that the target is not the PKK. It is the system of self-government and the Kurdish people as a whole. But the classification of the PKK as a terrorist organization is a problem. It serves as a cover for the Turkish state’s genocidal campaign against the Kurd:ism and legitimizes their war crimes under the guise of “fighting terrorism.”
On this topic, British journalist Steve Sweeny also addresses the lack of freedom of the press, which is a major obstacle in creating widespread publicity on the issue, stating:
- “However, it is unlikely that the truth in this regard will ever come out, as the media is tightly controlled by the imperialist world powers and those who approach disclosure are vilified as cranks. The lack of freedom of the press and the strong internal repression in Kurdistan reinforce this. The Western press, (…) is silent about this. Of course, this is not because they do not know about it. The Kurdish community based in the UK is incredibly vocal and often holds lively protests in front of the BBC, but mostly to no avail. This is about the issue of media ownership and control, as well as the desire of the major newspapers to maintain their relationship with the Turkish state, which is a major source of advertising revenue, and their role as part of the imperialist system.”
In an interview, Duran Kalkan stated that a former defense minister of Turkey publicly admitted to possessing tactical nuclear weapons, but no one investigated:
A retired former general once said on a Turkish TV channel, “We have used tactical nuclear weapons since the 1990s. They are also being used in the Ukraine war. We have them, we are also using them.” They stopped the broadcast immediately, so they stopped it. Those who used it in the 90s are now using tactical nuclear weapons in Zap, Avaşîn and Metina. They said it was a more serious war crime than chemical weapons. Legal circles that know this business should investigate. This confession was important.”
But no research was done on these statements, the media did not report the incident further, and it faded into oblivion.
In a parliamentary session, HDP MP Tülay Hatimoğulları questioned Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar about the chemical weapons attacks in southern Kurdistan during a budget debate. Akar acknowledged the use of tear gas but dismissed allegations of the use of other chemicals. He said Turkish forces had “none at all” in stockpiles. In an interview, Karayilan called this statement a “lie” and reported various chemicals used that differ in effect.
Delegation member Jan van Aken also addressed these statements by the defense minister during a press conference, saying:
- “The Turkish Defense Minister’s statements alone are a clear violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention. In his speech to the Turkish Parliament, he describes the use of tear gas in a purely military confrontation. In such a situation, tear gas is indeed prohibited. There is only an exception in the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) for use in the context of ‘riot control,’ that is, demonstrations.”
