Turkey Using Chemical Weapons on Kurds?
This item just popped up on my Twitter feed. It's a profoundly shocking allegation. I don't know if it's true.
German experts have confirmed the authenticity of photographs that purport to show PKK fighters killed by chemical weapons. The evidence puts increasing pressure on the Turkish government, which has long been suspected of using such weapons against Kurdish rebels. German politicians are demanding an investigation.
It would be difficult to exceed the horror shown in the photos, which feature burned, maimed and scorched body parts. The victims are scarcely even recognizable as human beings. Turkish-Kurdish human rights activists believe the people in the photos are eight members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) underground movement, who are thought to have been killed in September 2009.
Kurdish activists apparently gave the photos to "a German human rights delegation comprised of Turkey experts, journalists and politicians from the far-left Left Party."
This rings a few alarms off the bat: Why give this evidence to politicians on the far Left? The European Left has historically been sympathetic to the PKK--a Maoist terrorist group. They are more apt to be gullible about PKK propaganda. It suggests something fishy.
That said, this needs investigating, urgently. It hardly needs be said that if it's true, Turkey has become a true pariah state. This is what Saddam Hussein did to the Kurds.
God, I hope it isn't true. I know a lot of young guys who are soon to be conscripted into the Turkish military here. It kills me to think they could end up involved in something like this.
Meanwhile, an American journalist, Jake Hess, has been arrested in Diyarbakir, the Kurdish southeast, on charges of "assisting the PKK." This too is very disturbing--and certainly hints that they're trying to hide something. This wouldn't be a new policy, to arrest journalists who go down there for a little look-see. One of the ironies of Turkey's criticism of Israel's alleged human rights violations in the territories is that the only reason anyone knows about them is because Israel permits journalists to go there. The Turks aren't that dumb.
- Comment (3)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (2)
Comments :
Jun '10
Re: Turkey Using Chemical Weapons on Kurds?
I've noticed that in most countries that are not America, the citizens act like they're the helpless pawns of their government, probably because they are. Even in "democratic" countries. At least the attitude or expectation is that (without connections) they have no power. The difference in America is that the average guy believes he's still in the driver's seat, and that if he and his neighbors put up enough of a fuss, the government "wouldn't dare do that," whatever "that" is. That's what we're in the process of losing--the power of the collective little guy. And that loss, in part, is what animates the Tea Partiers. That's what Turkey brings to mind.
May '10
Re: Turkey Using Chemical Weapons on Kurds?
If true—and that's a big if, given the German left's fondness for the PKK which goes back decades—this is a huge, shocking deal, and should be the end of Erdoğan, since, depending on the scope, it's potentially a crime against humanity of the order of Saddam's gassing of Halabja or Assad's razing of Hama. Let's see if the Euros are game for dragging his carcass to the Hague.
That said, I can think of a bunch of reasons why it may not be finis Erdoğan’ın. First, Turkish voters, who are pretty awesome at cognitive dissonance, may be able to be simultaneously appalled at the use of the chemical weapons and not at all disturbed at their use against the PKK. Second, it's conceivable that this goes back to pre-AKP days and the government can essentially blackmail the military, or CHP or whomever, to keep it from becoming an issue.
Still, if the secularists don't scream bloody murder to find out what happened (and if it did to see heads roll, possibly literally), Turkey is really circling the bowl…
Re: Turkey Using Chemical Weapons on Kurds?
Exactly to all points (as usual), Confucius.