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Child victim of Turkish chemical attack, Rojava, October 2019
By Mohammed Sabir Karim:
It is widely reported that phosphorus weapons have been used as part of the Turkish aggression against the population of the north of Syria. According to the Geneva convention, white phosphorus can only be used in grenades, air munitions and artillery shells, for instance, for smoke-screening purposes. But Turkey has used it for a directly incendiary role against civilians and Kurdish fighters in Rojava. The evidence is well known and has been collated in Dhok hospital in the KRG area and elsewhere in world. When white phosphorus makes contact with human skin, it burns deep into the flesh, long after the munition has exploded. As Dr Sher at Hasaka Hospital said: “I know that burn and blast wounds are usually caused by airstrikes. These are different. The deep burn, spotting, the burn shapes and smell are entirely consistent with wounds caused by a chemical incendiary”. Of course, Turkey has denied this, but the evidence proves that Turkey used it and multiple witnesses have given details to the world media – to the Times, CBS, Rudaw, Kurdistan 24, etc. Another doctor who has more than twenty years’ experience working in Hasaka Hospital confirmed that he had “identified between 15 and 20 possible victims, including fighters from the Syrian Democratic Forces as well as civilians and children”. International chemical weapons experts investigating the claim have said that there was no doubt that phosphorus has been used.
From the above evidence the following is clear. First: the Turkish military state’s real aim and object is not to create a peaceful area for the 3.5 million refugees in Turkey but to crush and commit genocide against the peaceful Kurds in Rojava who have built their own self-government with the help of the western world. Today’s Tukey under the leadership of Erdogan Bonaparte it is the most brutal and terroristic state and it can be compared to the rule of the Mullahs in Iran. Turkey has become one of the biggest obstacles to peace in the region through its role in terrorizing and facilitating the genocide of the Kurdish nation. Second: Turkish hatred and aggression masks a more complex reality because, after the Dersim Massacre of 1937-1938, which followed a Kurdish revolt, the Turkish Nationalist state of Kamal Ataturk began a physical genocide of the Kurdish population in Turkey and they have ever since been denying Kurdish national rights. The current Turkish military state is heavily engaged with the attempted eradication of the lives of ordinary Kurds in any other part of Kurdistan.
The Kurds in Rojava need much better treatment by the western world due to their stand against ISIS and the sacrifice of 11,000 fighters. The world should not turn a blind eye to Turkish atrocities against the democratic movement in Syria. The use of phosphoric weapons by Turkish military forces should raise the alarm that Erdogan has become Saddam in the region and must be stopped. Turkey is a terror state and Erdogan should be charged with war crimes. He should be brought to justice for the killing of innocent woman and children in the north of Syria. The western world should recognise the Turkish state as a terrorist state.
Mohammed Sabir Karim holds a PhD and is a political analyst. He is a lecturer at the University of Sulaimani, Department of Politics and Law , Kurdistan Regional Government
