Kurds urge the world to stop Turkish massacres

by Roni Alasor / Lorin Sarkis

Brussels, 5 January 2016 - Middle East Diplomatic (MED) - Following several weeks of curfews and isolation of towns and cities across North Kurdistan Region (Turkey), resulting in the killings of 260 civilians and hundreds of political arrests, Kurdistan National Congress (KNK) calls UN, EU, US and the whole world to break the silence and stop Turkish massacres against its own citizens.

Several political analysts and observers from Turkey and abroad comparing the ongoing anti-Kurdish campaign with the Armenian massacres.

In a newly released KNK statement, the organisation gives details about the recent killings of civilian population, consisting mainly in women and children, and numerous violations against Kurdish elected politicians and activists.

The statement cites a Turkish military document belonging to the Turkish Ground Forces Command, which says: “the results of military personnel not using their weapons in fear of prosecution will be very dangerous”. The document also guarantees that Turkish soldiers will not face prosecution if they kill civilians.

Turkish military document reveals state’s master plan for Kurdish massacre. In the document Turkish soldiers are instructed to use weapons, without fear of prosecution, if they kill civilians. The document titled “Personnel’s vigilance and deployment of firearms” and dated 30 July 2015, serial number “84933840-3000-350-15”, has the signature of “Ground Forces Command, 172nd Armoured Brigade Command, 3rd Tank Battalion Command, Cizre/Sirnak”.

Parallel to the open civil war in Kurdish towns and cities, Turkey also blocks Kurdish parliamentarians and mayors from exercising their functions. Turkish President Erdogan has called state prosecutors to start legal proceeding against HDP co-chairs Selahattin DEMIRTAS and Figen YUKSEKDAG. 20 elected Kurdish mayors have been arrested or relieved of their duties and will be replaced by government appointed administrators.

Several political analysts and observers from Turkey and abroad compared the ongoing anti-Kurdish campaign with the Armenian massacres in the Ottoman Empire at the beginning of XX century. The similarities are not only in the brutal methods used by the Turkish state, but also in the silence of the Western countries, which let Turkey continue with the massacres today, as 100 years ago.

THE LIST OF KILLED KURDISH CHILDREN