Reports: Turkey Used Chemical Weapons Against PKK

Photos Seem to Confirm Violation of Chemical Weapons Convention

A forensic report from Germany’s Hamburg University Hospital has confirmed that recently leaked photographs showing slain (Kurdistan Workers Party) PKK members have a “high probability” of showing that they died from chemical weapons attacks.

The Turkish government has attempted to shrug off previous claims of such attacks as “PKK propaganda,” but the latest photo evidence appears to all but confirm that in the case of a September 2009 attack the victims were killed in an attack that would violate the Turkish government’s obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention.

So far German rights groups are continuing to investigate the allegations, but the German Foreign Ministry declined calls to take up the matter with the Turkish government.

The incident would be the latest in a long line of violent actions in the war between Turkey’s military but perhaps the one that, after decades of fighting would bring attention to the impact the war has had on human rights in southeastern Turkey.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.