ANF interviewed Demir Çelik, Co-Chair of the Democratic Alevi Federation (FEDA), and Rıza Yağmur, a notable from the Derviş Cemal Community, about the Turkish army using banned and chemical weapons against guerrilla troops in South Kurdistan and setting the corpses of its own soldiers on fire in battlefields.

FEDA Co-Chair Çelik said that the Turkish army was not successful despite using technologically advanced weapons against the guerrilla troops: “The Turkish army is attacking by recruiting gangs from the KDP and Syria. The Kurdish guerrillas are putting up epic resistance against the Turkish invasion campaign which has been going on for 7 months with the military and intelligence support of the imperialist world, particularly the NATO and the USA. The Turkish state, which has failed despite all the support it receives, does not hesitate to use any form of dirty war methods in violation of the laws of war. Failing to advance on the ground, they use chemical weapons and banned bombs with nuclear warheads. It is understood that the Turkish state is going through a very difficult time in this war. The spokespersons of the fascist government are concealing their defeats and deny their crimes against humanity.”

THEY INSIST ON GENOCIDE

Çelik recalled that international conventions to which Turkey is a party prohibit the use of chemical weapons. “Head of the Turkish Medical Association and Forensic Medicine expert Şebnem Korur Fincancı was jailed for stating that the alleged use of chemical weapons should be investigated. Politicians, artists and intellectuals who urge the government to be sensitive on this issue face a crackdown. This paranoid approach proves that the state is having a hard time in the dirty war it is waging. Corrupted officials are insisting on physical and cultural genocide against the Kurds and the Alevis.”

DISRESPECT FOR THE DEAD

Çelik noted that the Turkish state convinced those fighting against the guerrillas that they would “fall as martyrs when killed”. He continued, “The soldiers they recruit are made to sign a contract saying that the state will deal with the process if they die in war. In this way, they conceal their death toll from society, trying not to draw public reaction. Moreover, the army sees no harm in burning the corpses of its own soldiers and not delivering them to their families. There is no such thing in any law of war. The treatment of dead Kurdish fighters has already shown us that the denialist and genocidal mentality has no respect for the dead from the burial of bodies under pavements and delivery of bones to families by post or handover of remains in a bag. The Turkish state considers it a duty to subject the Kurds to any and all atrocities. The way they treat their own dead soldiers shows that no human or Islamic values ​​have any meaning for them anymore. Once you disrespect human values, there will be no limits and boundaries.”

HUMAN VALUES DISREGARDED

Çelik continued, “The Turkish army burns the bodies of soldiers killed in armed conflicts so that they do not fall into the hands of the guerrilla forces. This shows how away they have grown from human values. They have tanks, armored vehicles, helicopters but still do not retrieve the casualties from the ground. This has no explanation, neither with regard to humanity nor conscience. Those who feed on enmity can do anything. Burning the corpses is a consequence of the unlawfulness of the brutal, barbaric, and dirty war.

It is also possible that they burn the corpses to avoid the exposure of their identities and crimes in war. This savagery and barbarism will continue unabated if the denialist and genocidal state is not confronted, held accountable and conceded to universal laws and a democratic common life. Therefore, instead of expecting the sovereigns and the tyrants to show mercy, we, as the oppressed peoples and beliefs of Mesopotamia, must fulfil our humanitarian and conscientious responsibilities against this savagery and barbarism.”

BURNING DEAD BODIES IS A CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY

Rıza Yağmur, a notable from the Derviş Cemal Community, underlined that the Turkish army has committed war crimes in its war against the guerrilla troops: “The Turkish state system is inspired by the oppressive rules of Muawiya and Yazid, who massacred Imam Husayn and his community in Karbala. The current order and mentality are the same. History repeats itself. Possessed by the same mentality, the Turkish army is cruelly murdering the children of the oppressed Kurdish people today. This is injustice, cruelty, shame, sin. All the oppressed must stand together to end this madness. Burning the corpses of your own soldiers cannot be associated with any faith or human value. It is a crime against humanity, against which all the oppressed peoples should act together.”