TURKEY’S use of chemical weapons during its “dirty war” in Iraqi Kurdistan is an admission of their defeat at the hands of the guerilla resistance, officials told the Morning Star today.
Kurdistan Communities Union spokesman Zagros Hiwa said that Ankara had been forced to use banned munitions as it had failed to make ground in its military operations.
“The scale and use of prohibited chemical weapons is unprecedented,” Mr Hiwa said.
The Kurdistan Workers Party insists that more than 300 chemical attacks have taken place, though these figures cannot be independently corroborated.
It has however called for delegations to attend the region, including inspectors from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), to collect samples for analysis.
“Unable to overcome the defence lines of the guerilla for more than six months, the Turkish army resorts to these inhumane brutal methods,” the spokesman added.
The Morning Star is the only British newspaper to have reported from the ground during Turkey’s Operation Claw Lightning, launched in April.
Reports in the newspaper were cited by Turkey’s Peoples’ Democratic Party when it called for a commission of inquiry in the Turkish parliament, a request rejected as “offensive.”
But pressure is now growing for world bodies to act.
Much focus has been on the failure of the OPCW and the United Nations to act on the allegations, despite being sent numerous letters and protests outside their respective headquarters.
The Morning Star has also drawn a blank despite repeated attempts to contact the global bodies.
“That they have remained meaningfully silent raises suspicions of dirty deals between them and the Turkish state,” Mr Hiwa said, a common refrain among Kurds who feel that world powers are colluding against them.
He urged the Iraqi authorities and the Kurdistan regional government to do more, accusing them of maintaining “a deafening silence” which Mr Zagros said “shows the degree to which they are indifferent towards the fate of their country and their people.”
Britain has come under renewed scrutiny for its role in the alleged chemical attacks.
In 2019 it was revealed that it had issued more than 70 licences for weapons that could be armed with white phosphorus, one of the chemicals believed to have been used.
A newly formed group — the Coalition Against Chemical Weapons in Kurdistan — this week called on the British government to speak out against the actions of its Nato ally and stop arms sales to Turkey.
The government was contacted for comment.
By: STEVE SWEENEY
Source: Morning Star
