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| The Grand Turk |
| Turks hit PKK with chemical weapons |
| 2010-08-13 |
| [Jerusalem Post Front Page] German politicians called on Thursday for an international investigation into the reported use of chemical weapons by the Turkish military. The weapons were used against members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), according to the online edition of the German weekly magazine Der Spiegel. "Turkey needs to urgently look into these accusations," said Ruprecht Polenz, chairman of the Foreign Affairs committee in the Bundestag and a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union party. Polenz recommended an international investigation to examine the deaths of eight Kurdish activists from the PKK. Claudia Roth, co-chair of the German Green party, echoed Polenz's criticisms, seconding his call for an investigation. MP Andrej Hunko urged the German Foreign Ministry to file a complaint against Turkey with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague. A forensic report from Hamburg University Hospital confirmed that the eight Kurds had been murdered by "the use of chemical substances." Turkish Kurdish human rights members delivered photos in March to a delegation of German politicians, Turkey specialists, and journalists. The bodies in the photos were severely deformed and torn to pieces; the photos formed the basis for the forensic report. Hans Baumann, a German expert on the authenticity of photos, confirmed that photos had not been doctored. The eight Kurdish PKK members were killed last September. The 31 photos, according to German media, are so disturbing that news organizations have been reluctant to publish them. The murdered PKK rebels -- two women and six men -- range in age from 19 to 33. The allegation of employing chemical weapons against the Kurdish minority group could further taint Turkey's battered human rights record. Turkey's nearly 12 million Kurds are seeking increased rights and autonomy. Turkey's armed forces have, according to human rights groups, brutally suppressed the Kurdish ethnic minority's attempts to secure more independence in the southeast. In July, a series of violent clashes between the Turkish military and Kurdish rebels broke out. The PKK had previously attacked a Turkish military post, killing eight Turkish soldiers, prompting a wave of military strikes resulting in the deaths of 12 Kurds. Turkey is a signatory to the Chemical Weapons Convention. The alleged use of chemical weapons would constitute a violation of the anti-chemical weapons treaty. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #8 One description of the injuries sounded like a fuel-air explosive detonation : hardly a chemical weapon, unless the Left is now defining a chemical weapon attack as any involving the use of any form of chemical at all, i.e., C-4 explosive. |
| Posted by: Shieldwolf 2010-08-13 17:08 |
| #7 He cut a hole in his gas mask to put his pipe through. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2010-08-13 10:51 |
| #6 They keep getting more and more gleeful with over defining what chemical weapons are. This began in earnest with the Swedes complaining about the US use of tear gas against tunnel occupants in Vietnam. From there, they tried to redefine defoliants as weapons, white phosphorus, even propane bombs. How not to use a chemical munition. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2010-08-13 09:39 |
| #5 Expect international outcry in 5..4..3 eons. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2010-08-13 06:07 |
| #4 Since when do chemical weapons "tear people to pieces"? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2010-08-13 02:09 |
| #3 So from a photo you can tell they were killed by chem weapons??? HMMM Sounds like crap to me. |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2010-08-13 00:41 |
| #2 the photos formed the basis for the forensic report Oh, please... |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2010-08-13 00:34 |
| #1 Say goodbye to NATO, Turkey. Bunch of turkeys. |
| Posted by: newc 2010-08-13 00:21 |