The French paper L’Humanité has published a feature article titled “Chemical suspicion of Erdogan's operations against the Kurds”. In it, the paper, examined the accusation made by the PKK which said that the Turkish army is using toxic chemical substances against its fighters in the mountains of northern Iraq. “In Turkey, the threat of prison hangs over all voices, journalists or doctors, who demand independent investigations,” wrote the paper telling about the arrest of Turkish Medical Association, Şebnem Korur Fincanci, for her declarations in favour of an investigation into the allegations.

The French paper said that “only an international investigation under the aegis of the UN or the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) can confirm or invalidate these allegations.”

The paper also wrote about “the images that caused trouble,” and added: “There is this video, released by the PKK, showing first a fighter in the grip of a fit of hilarity, then a dying fighter, seized with vomiting and shaken with disordered movements.”

The paper interviewed doctor Beppe Josef Savary-Borioli who said: "It is impossible to make a definitive diagnosis on the basis of images alone. But the substance that comes to mind when seeing these scenes is M-CPP (metaChlorophenylpiperazine), a very toxic agent which was once found in tablets to start fires. At high dosages, it can lead to a clinical picture similar to the one presented by the fighter filmed here: coma, hyperventilation, cramps, epileptic seizure. Exposure to high concentrations can lead to death, excruciating death.”