İSTANBUL - Stating that KDP prevented the delegations that wanted to examine the use of chemical weapons from revealing war crimes, MAF-DAD Deputy Chairman Mahmut Şakar said: "We are trying to create a memory. We are trying to turn these into cases."

 

The International Association for Law and Democracy (MAF-DAD) is taking legal initiatives in European countries regarding the use of chemical and prohibited weapons in the Zap, Avaşîn and Metina areas of Turkey's Federated Kurdistan Region. Speaking on the issue, MAF-DAD Vice President, lawyer Mahmut Şakar, stated that the attacks due to KDP's obstruction of chemical weapons research in the region have not turned into a lawsuit so far.

 

Stating that Turkey has a long record regarding the use of chemical weapons, Şakar reminded the video of the last moments of 2 HPG members who were exposed to chemical weapons in October last year. Stating that they took action upon the images, Şakar said: "The relatives of the deceased HPG members in Europe applied to them. Upon the applications, we called on international authorities and interlocutor institutions such as the International Union of Physicians Against Nuclear War (IPPNW) and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to "send a delegation to the region for examination".

 

'KDP PREVENTED THE DISCLOSURE OF WAR CRIMES'

 

Drawing attention that delegations came to the region due to chemical attacks and that KDP prevented investigation, Şakar said: "We could not access the evidence due to this obstacle. KDP clearly prevented the disclosure of war crimes. For this reason, this issue did not turn into a lawsuit or application. Since the request for evidence was requested from a legal perspective, we worked on methods that could further document them in order to turn them into a file. We are still working on this."

 

Stating that IPPNW went to the Federated Kurdistan Region despite the KDP's obstacle and prepared a report on its initiatives in civilian areas there, Şakar said: "In that report, they mentioned traces of chemical weapons. They demanded that a more in-depth investigation should be carried out and that the competent international institutions should step in. Not only IPPNW, but Many European delegations were blocked and sent back after going to Hewlêr. Some delegations were even prevented by Germany. International states prevented these crimes from being revealed by jointly blocking the attempts to investigate these allegations. These attitudes clearly show us that chemical weapons were used."

 

'A CRIME WITHOUT PRESCRIPTION'

 

Stating that he sent all the reports prepared by the Kurdistan National Congress (KNK) to the relevant institutions and parliaments, Şakar said: "In addition, Kurdish institutions and civil organizations submitted files on this issue to the competent authorities of the countries they are in. I believe that the states have documents and information regarding Turkey's war prisoners. I think it is. Of course, the use of chemical weapons is a war crime and a crime for which there is no prescription in the context of humanitarian law. Today, international conditions are not in a position to allow or facilitate Turkey's prosecution for these war crimes and crimes against humanity. It somehow does not allow this. The fact that Turkey is not a member of the international criminal court and does not take part in such platforms also prevents lawsuits against them from being filed in such institutions."

 

Noting that they have not dropped the use of chemical weapons from their agenda, Şakar said: "We are trying to at least create a memory. We are trying to archive what happened. We are trying to turn these into legal processes and cases."