Treaties on chemical weapons are not applied in relation with Turkish occupation state

Jurist Gabriel Mustafa confirmed that all agreements and treaties banning chemical weapons remained ink on paper, with Turkey using these weapons in legitimate defense areas.

29 October, 2022 00:45

Al-Shahba - Alain Rashid

In flagrant violation of human rights and international laws and charters, the Turkish occupying state continues to use internationally banned chemical weapons in its aggression against legitimate defense areas.

The Media Center of the People's Defense Forces revealed in a statement, the outcome of 6 months of attacks by the Turkish occupation, from April 14 to October 14, 2022, that the occupation used chemical weapons and banned bombs 2476 times.

On October 18, the leadership of the People's Defense Center (NPG) published the record of 17 male and female fighters from the Guerilla Forces; They were martyred during the attacks launched by the Turkish occupation state with chemical weapons. It indicated the increase in chemical attacks due to the silence and international support for these attacks.

In this context, human rights defender Gabriel Mustafa spoke of laws and treaties that prohibit the use of chemical weapons in any armed conflict, whether internal or external.

Mustafa said, "Despite the use of all these weapons and the support of NATO, Turkey was not able to reach its goal of eliminating the guerrilla forces. On the contrary, the effectiveness of the forces increased, their masses increased. They were able to control the arena in terms of political, military and ideological terms, and as a result of this victory the Turkish state has resorted to using internationally prohibited weapons, including poisonous yellow gases, white phosphorous, sulfur mustard gas and nerve gas.

Ignore the crimes of genocide

Mustafa added, "Although chemical weapons are internationally prohibited, according to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, their production and distribution, and this treaty entered into force in 1997, and the Turkish occupation state is among the countries that signed and ratified this treaty, but it does not abide by it."

Gabriel Mustafa stressed that Turkey does not respect international laws, and all this is the result of international silence.

Agreements and treaties remain ink on paper

He continued, "There are many international conventions prohibiting the use of these weapons, including international humanitarian law, customary international law, and the statute of the Criminal Court. In 2010, the court issued a decision that considered the use of chemical weapons in conflicts, a war crime, in addition to the Hague Declaration and the Geneva Protocols on Poisonous Gases, all these laws and all these treaties and military writings of a group of countries that prohibit the use of chemical weapons, did not deter Turkey from using weapons in front of the world's eyes. Those agreements and treaties remained ink on paper and nothing more.

Mustafa criticized the silence of the international forces towards the use of chemical weapons in the legitimate defense zones, "But unfortunately, despite all the evidence of the use of chemical weapons against the People's Defense Forces, we did not find any movement from the international forces or international organizations, especially the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which oversees itself on the treaty banning those weapons.

Overlapping interests

Jurist Gabriel Mustafa also said, "The suspicious silence is evidence of the existence of approaches by several standards towards humanitarian and human rights files. This proves the existence of bias for these countries and parties to the side of the Turkish occupation state. Unfortunately, these approaches are at the expense of peoples."

At the conclusion of his speech, Gabriel Mustafa called on the international forces and organizations concerned with the prohibition of chemical weapons to carry out their duties, implement their agreements, and prevent the Turkish occupation from using these weapons and hold them accountable for that.

ANHA