Justice for the victims of genocide and prevention of further crimes against humanity
CHAK
On the 60th anniversary of the Genocide Convention, which was adopted in Paris on December 9, 1948, CHAK wants to raise international awareness to the oppression, persecution and murder of Kurdish people in the occupied Kurdish areas of Turkey , Iran and Syria . The security situation for individuals, as well the community of Kurdish people, is critical, with negative factors promoted to worrying levels. Denial of Kurdish political and cultural rights in their homeland and the continuing internal conflict needs serious awareness from the international community.
Ignoring the oppression and persecution of Kurdish people in those countries makes the risk of genocide even greater. Kurds are naturally disturbed by international passivity regarding the security and national rights of their people. The murder of Kurdish human rights activists, politicians and journalists in Iran and the Iranian bombardment of the border villages have been wrongfully disregarded. Turkey´s violation of human rights of Kurds in Turkey and through the bombardment of border areas with forbidden weapons such as cluster weapons has gone practically unnoticed. Oppression and persecution of the Kurds in Syria , which denies minimal rights to the Kurds, is completely overlooked. The international community must act by accepting and supporting the political and cultural rights of Kurdish people in those countries. International passivity and neglect suggests the support to the non-democratic regimes in Turkey , Iran and Syria .
On this international occasion, as the world remembers the abhorrent genocide crimes of the Holocaust and the Rwandan and Srebrenican Massacres, we also remind the international community of forgotten mass killings and genocides committed against the Kurdish people throughout history.
In 1937 – 38, the Dersim genocide was committed by the Kamalist regime of Turkey . Tens of thousands of Kurds were brutally murdered by poisonous gas and other vile methods employed by the Turkish military. The Dersim genocide has never been named by the international community - by states that proclaim justice and human rights. The horrific crime against the Kurds in Dersim must have international attention and be recognized as a crime of genocide.
CHAK reminds the international community of crimes against humanity and mass killings committed by the Iraqi air forces in June 1987, using the poisonous weapons of Sardasht. CHAK mourns the mass killings in Amuda in Syria , where, sinisterly, 250 children and adults burned in a cinema. CHAK mourns the mass killings in Qarne and Qalatan in 1978 committed by the Iranian regime, which attacked Kurdish villagers and slaughtered hundreds of civilians.
Progress is slow, so many crimes committed against the Kurds are ignored, but there is some light at the end of this dark tunnel. The Anfal genocide of 1988 has been recognized by the Iraqi government and court, but this recognition includes denials that make the Kurds unhappy and sceptical of the legal process and political purpose of the Iraqi authority. The Iraqi court has not fulfilled the international standard of legal trials, and has not been independent and neutral regarding the crimes committed against the Kurds by the Arab Baath regime between 1968 and 2003.
Saddam Hussein, the main perpetrator of the crimes, escaped the Anfal trial for genocide crime, as he was killed before the trial’s verdict. He escaped the trials of the ‘crimes of ethnic cleansing of the Fali Kurds and Ezdi Kurds’, ‘the mass killing of the Barzani Kurds’ and the ‘crime of chemical attacks on Halabja’.
The Iraqi government and the Americans in Iraq involved in the legal process are violating the rules of the court and are trying to make the legal process covenant with the political process. The three main perpetrators of the Anfal genocide crime, who were found guilty of the genocide crime, have not been punished yet. These perpetrators should have been punished in October 2007 according the Bias Law of the Iraqi court, but because of political intervention the sentences are still unknown.
Finally CHAK appeals for recognition and acceptance of Kurdish freedom rights wherever they live, and without the acceptance further crimes against the Kurds are possible. International passivity and disregard of Kurdish rights is unacceptable, leaving Kurdish security under serious threat.
The Center of Halabja against Anfal and Genocide of the Kurdish People (CHAK)
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December 11, 2008
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