Last December, Brigitte Crottaz, a federal parliamentarian of the Socialist Party (SP), one of the partners of the coalition government in Switzerland, brought up the Turkish use of chemical weapons in its war against the Kurds to the agenda of the Federal Parliament. Crottaz asked whether the Swiss government was aware of the Turkish use of chemical weapons in South Kurdistan (North Iraq) in 2021.

In its official response to parliamentarian Crottaz, the Bern government stated that it did not know about the Turkish use of chemical weapons but was following the developments concerning the subject. The Swiss government underlined that the use of chemical weapons is prohibited by a convention of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). “The issue of whether chemical weapons are used should be investigated by independent observers and legal proceedings should be initiated against those who do not comply with the Chemical Weapons Convention,” the Swiss government said.

SWISS GOVERNMENT CALLS FOR ALL PARTIES TO RESPECT LAWS

The Swiss government said that the military operations carried out by Turkey stirred controversy, stating, “Our government deemed and criticized Turkey's military aggression against Syria in 2019 as a violation of the UN convention. The government calls for all parties to the conflict to abide by international laws, particularly those related to human rights.”

The Swiss government stated that Turkey occupies an important place in Switzerland's foreign policy, and Swiss officials bring up democracy, rule of law and human rights issues during the meetings between the representatives of both countries. The Swiss authorities keep asking Turkey to fulfil its responsibilities concerning international laws, specifically human rights and fundamental freedoms, the response said.

“Switzerland regularly delivers its opinion on Turkey's compliance with human rights at the Council of Europe,” the response added.