The military prosecutor’s office of Turkish General Staff has finalized its investigation into the alleged use of chemical weapons in Kazan Valley (Geliyê Tiyarê) where 36 HPG (People's Defense Forces) guerrillas were killed in clashes in Çukurca district of Hakkari on October 22-24, 2011.

The military prosecutor’s office had launched the investigation upon the criminal complaint the families of the 34 guerrillas filed on 6 December 2011 after they saw burns, color change and no bullet holes on the bodies of the guerrillas killed here.

In a statement on the finalized investigation, the prosecutor’s office said that no chemical weapon but 'standard conventional ammunition' was used in the operation against HPG guerrillas. The office also ruled lack of grounds for legal action.

HPG guerrilla Nupelda Engin, who spoke to ANF after surviving the operation in Kazan Valley, said that they had suffered from great nausea, sore throat and suffocation feeling and had difficulty in walking after the bombs were dropped in the area, spreading a smell resembling the smell of fruit and milk.

Engin remarked that “We were unable to breath, we began to feel sick and dizzy while shootings went on. We could hardly move and walk until we reached a watery area and were able to protect ourselves there for two days from the smell spreading in the area.”

The areas targeted were under the control of guerrillas, noted Engin and added that “We waited for the enemy for two days but they didn’t come. Our comrades had been wounded but they died because of the chemicals that are still in the area.”

A delegation of IHD (Human Rights Association) Hakkari Branch, BDP (Peace and Democracy Party) provincial organization members and families of HPG guerrillas, who went to Kazan Valley one week after the operation, found body parts in the clashes area. Villagers in the area told them that HPG guerrillas had died in the caves hit by napalm bombs dropped during the clashes. Villagers also remarked that after the clashes the bodies of guerrillas had been taken from the area with diggers and many bodies were torn to pieces.

Making a statement after the survey, IHD Hakkari Branch Chair İsmail Akbulut said that “there were only 24 bodies in Malatya's morgue while about 30 guerrillas lost their lives during the clashes in the valley. Six of the guerrillas - parts of their bodies in fact - were still in the operations area.