On March 26th, the final verdict of the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal (PPT) 54th session on Rojava vs. Turkey was presented at a special event in the European Parliament. This landmark judgement arrives at a pivotal moment for peace and political resolution regarding the Kurdish question in Northeastern Syria and Turkey.

The final verdict of the tribunal states: "The purpose of this Tribunal is to counter what Sartre denounced as the ‘crime of silence’, in the face of the atrocities masquerading as anti-terrorist operations which this Session has revealed. As the schoolgirl survivors of the atrocity at Schemoka school declared, ‘No one should turn a blind eye to Erdoğan; no one should be silent against the Turkish State’. The Tribunal is a tribune of visibility and the right to speak; the imperative on those who listen is to act, to take the messages conveyed in our recommendations to those with the power to enact them."

Based on the evidence presented, recommendations were put forward for the Government of Turkey, Government of Syria, the United Nations, the European Council, Council of Europe and Member States, and the international community.

Key recommendations for the Government of Turkey included: to end its occupation of Afrin and the financing of the armed groups operating under its control, and ensure their disbandment, cease all attacks against Rojava and respect the territorial integrity of Syria, and allow independent investigations by the UN and human rights organisations into reported international crimes committed against the people of Rojava, and permit access to detention centres and prisons in the occupied regions.

Recommendations to the Government of Syria included: to acknowledge the right to self-determination exercised through the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, and the autonomy of the administration, respect the arrangements for gender equality and for ethnic and religious equality of representation in the administration of the region, and stop Turkish incursions into Syrian territory, and if they continue, make a complaint to the International Court of Justice, seeking interim measures binding Turkey.

Recommendations to the UN focused on specific actions to be taken by the Security Council, The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, UNHCR, and UN Secretary-General.

The recommendations to the European Council, Council of Europe and Member States focused on the initiation of procedures against Turkey through the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, national courts and prosecutors of the European States, while publicly condemning war crimes committee by Turkey against the peoples of Rojava. Finally, to the international community, the verdict stresses the importance of ensuring “the conditions for the development of coordinated efforts for the international recognition of the Autonomous Administration in the context of a necessary peace process for the Kurdish people in the region.”

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi stated the following in her speech after the final judgement's presentation: “How long is this crime going to continue why is no one putting and end to it? Let’s don’t forget that these crimes are not only committed against Kurds in Rojava (Syria) but in Turkey, Iran and Iraq. I hope the world will not turn a blind eye to the situation of the Kurds, human rights activist and journalist be more active!”

The indictment accuses Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (President of Turkey), Hulusi Akar (former minister of defence), Hakan Fidan (former head of the national intelligence organisation MIT, current foreign minister), Yaşar Güler (General, former chief of the defence staff, current defence minister) and Ümit Dündar (General) of the following crimes, committed from 2018 to date:

• The crime of aggression (unlawful military interventions in Syria between 2018 and 2024, against the will of the Syrian authorities and the Rojava autonomous administration);

• Crimes against humanity, in particular ethnic cleansing (forced displacement of the Kurdish population and ethnic engineering by resettling Syrians from elsewhere);

• War crimes including targeted killings of civilians, indiscriminate bombing of civilians, unlawful deportation and transfer by an occupying power of its own population; appropriation of civilian property; use of banned weapons; cultural and religious erasure through destruction of cultural heritage; collective punishment; environmental destruction; targeting of women; unlawful detention; torture; destruction of civilian infrastructure.

The war crimes listed also constitute grave violations of human rights, in particular violations of the right to life, the prohibition against torture, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment; the right to liberty; rights of freedom of expression and assembly; rights to the peaceful enjoyment of property; rights to cultural heritage; to non-discrimination, peace, equality and self-determination.

During the public hearing, impressive written and audio-visual documentation was made available to the panel of judges in support of the indictment.

In the ‘Evidence’ section, the verdict listed the cases of attacks on Rojava, Turkey’s responsibility for the armed factions/ SNA, attacks on civilian areas, use of white phosphorus, attacks on schools and schoolchildren, targeted attacks on civilians, gender-related killings of women (femicide), attacks on journalists, destruction of a printing house, torture, kidnapping, arbitrary detention, gender-related violations: rape and sexual violence in secret prisons, targeting infrastructure and environment, hospitals and health centres, illegal logging, forced displacement: demographic engineering, prevention or deterrence of return, deprivation of livelihood, cultural and historical erasure, Turkification of occupied areas.

With regard to war crimes committed in Rojava, the verdict included cases of crimes of aggression, Turkey’s responsibility as an occupying power, displacement of population and ethnic engineering in Afrin, torture, kidnapping, and arbitrary detentions in Afrin, stating that: “Turkey has failed to uphold the obligation to maintain the status quo in occupied territories. Grave breaches of the Convention constitute war crimes and entail criminal liability for the perpetrators.”

The Tribunal has found that Turkey violated the laws of war and humanitarian law and the principle of distinction, protection of civilian property, prohibition of banned means and methods of warfare, prohibition of retaliation against civilians.

The Tribunal has also established a series of criminal episodes committed by the Turkish armed forces and by militias supported by Turkey against the Kurdish population of Rojava.

With regard to cultural and historical erasure as a war crime and evidence of the dolus specialis of the crime of genocide, the Tribunal has concluded that Turkey and its affiliated militias have conducted a systematic campaign against the Kurdish population in north and east Syria since at least 2018 aimed at wiping out their identity. The occupied areas are known for their cultural and religious diversity, manifested in both its tangible and intangible heritage.

The Turkish policy of erasure followed a pattern of connected illegal acts: Turkish-backed militias forcibly displaced the Kurdish population and resettled Syrian civilians from elsewhere in the territory; Turkish forces engaged in a massive unlawful appropriation of civilian property belonging to Kurdish individuals; Turkish occupying forces and affiliated militias changed the Kurdish names of villages, towns and institutions into Turkish, to erase the memory of the Kurdish presence there. This ethnic cleansing was accompanied by a widespread attack on protected cultural objects. The destruction of Yezidi and Christian religious sites was noted, the gleeful desecration of cemeteries, and the targeted eradication of Kurdish heritage, including the wilful bombing of the ancient temple of Ain Dara in January 2018, the theft by Turkish-aligned militias of its iconic Hittite-era basalt lion in 2019, the desecration, looting and vandalism of many other archeological sites.

In the section on crimes against humanity, the Tribunal listed cases of forced displacement, torture, rape, sexual violence, inhuman treatment, destruction of cultural heritage as persecution.

The human rights violations established by the Tribunal were directed against the right to self-determination of the Kurdish people, equality, non-discrimination, women’s and children's rights, basic needs and sovereignty over economic, natural and cultural resources, cultural heritage, civil and political rights, occupation and extraterritorial application of the ECHR.

The Tribunal ruled that the highest Turkish authorities have actively participated in the crimes by directly authorising the military operations:

• As head of State, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan bears ultimate responsibility for the actions of the Turkish military and its affiliated groups abroad. But he is not merely a political leader but, according to Article 104 of the Turkish Constitution, includes representing the Chief Command of the Turkish Armed Forces on behalf of the Turkish Grand National Assembly and deciding on the use of the Turkish Armed Forces, making him the supreme military leader too. It is clear from his social media posts that he authorised and celebrated the military campaigns.

• Yaşar Güler was appointed national defence minister in 2023, and prior to that served as the Chief of the General Staff of the Turkish Armed Forces from 2018 to 2023.

• Hulusi Akar was minister of national defence from 2018 to 2023, and his biography on the AKP website says ‘He executed the Çukur Operations domestically, and cross-border operations such as Euphrates Shield, Olive Branch, Peace Spring, Spring Shield, and Claw- Lock Operations’. Press releases and posts celebrated military offensives on Syrian soil.

• Hakan Fidan, foreign minister since 2023, was previously head of Turkey’s national intelligence organisation, MIT. In a recent interview he boasted of the success of the ‘cross-border operations’ he was involved in, from Euphrates Shield and Olive Branch to Peace Spring, and of the support given to the Syrian National Army (SNA), which as the Tribunal has noted, was responsible for many gross violations.

• Ümit Dündar has been the commander of the Turkish land forces since 2018.

Regarding the war crimes and crimes against humanity resulting from the aggression, the Tribunal accepts that top political and military Turkish authorities authorised the actions.