A demonstration will take place on 1 November in Den Haag to protest Turkish use of chemical weapons.

The demonstration will be launched with the slogan "We see your crimes!" The organizers said: "Let’s break the criminal and complicit silence that allows governments to put their interests ahead of human rights and turn a blind eye on the violations of the conventions they are supposed to defend."

Since 23 April 2021, Turkish airplanes have bombed villages, cities and rural areas thousands of times, thousands of artillery shells have hit the area, extensive ground operations have taken place and forests have been deliberately set on fire. But the single most important weapon the Turkish army has relied on during its attacks has  been chemical weapons. According to the latest news, Turkey has used banned chemical agents 2,470 times in the last 6 months, compared to 367 times throughout 2021.

Since last April, at least 89 guerrillas have been killed in these chemical weapons attacks. Recently, 17 guerrilla fighters were brutally killed in chemical weapons attacks. Several international delegations, the ‘Justice Vigil’ in front of OPCW since mid-August and recently the medical peace organization IPPNW published a report on possible violations of the ban on chemical weapons by Turkey in attacks on Kurdish civilians and PKK fighters in northern Iraq.

International institutional duty and their silence

Despite all this information, concrete evidence and calls, the reaction of government officials or representatives of international institutions has so far mostly varied between indifference and active obstruction. OPCW refuses even to receive reports by journalists and researchers. Additionally, all requests made to laboratories in different countries, to analyse samples that had been taken to Europe from guerrilla positions attacked with chemical weapons in South Kurdistan, were declined.

Turkey ́s ongoing war crimes clearly show that Turkey has been encouraged by the silence of the international community and thinks that it has been given a green light to commit war crimes wherever it wants. Instead of capitulating to Turkish instrumentalization of its NATO membership, the international community must take the allegations of the use of chemical weapons seriously by having experts looking into the matter and put pressure on Turkey to stop committing war crimes in South Kurdistan/Northern-Iraq and anywhere else.

There is an urgent need for immediate action against the Turkish state to prevent it from committing even more crimes against the Kurds. 

The EU, the US, the OPCW, WHO, ICR and the UN cannot cover up their current hypocrisy, lack of attitude and lack of morals.

The organizers of the demonstrations, the Kurdish associations in Europe, call on all international institutions, governments, and the international public to condemn Turkey for its crimes and use of chemical weapons; to impose sanctions on Turkey for using chemical weapons and also call to the OPCW and the WHO to appoint an urgent investigations delegation.