Summary of the outcomes of the conference on "Remembering the Halabja Genocide and the Use of Chemical Weapons Against Kurds"

(European Parliament Brussels, 8 March 2012)

by Bünyamin Tamris

Brussels, 16th of March, 2012

A conference on "Remembering the Halabja Genocide and the use of chemical weapons against Kurds" -organised by GUE/NGL Group in the European Parliament and the Kurdistan National Congress (KNK), in cooperation with the European Parliament / Kurds Friendship Group, the Kurdish Institute of Brussels and the Confederation of Kurdish Association in Europe (KONKURD)- was held in the European Parliament in Brussels on March the 8th, 2012, with the participation of politicians, academics, human rights activists, victims of the Halabja Genocide and representatives of Kurdish organisations from Europe, Kurdistan and Turkey.

The goal of the conference was to commemorate the Halabja Genocide and Anfal Campaigns conducted during Ba’ath Regime by Saddam Hussein -between 1986 and 1989- against Kurdish population of Northern Iraq and other Kurdistan Region's populations, such as Yezidis, Chaldeans, Assyrians, and Turkmens. It was marked as one of the most outrageous crimes committed against humanity, simply a genocide. The Anfal campaigns included the use of ground offensives, aerial bombings, systematic destruction of settlements, mass deportation, firing squads, mass destruction and chemical warfare. The consequences were catastrophic; more than 182000 civilians were exterminated, they were often buried alive in mass graves in southern Iraq; more than 4,500 villages and small towns burned along with their mosques and churches, tens of thousand people were displaced and deprived of their properties and massed in concentration camps. On 16 March 1988, in poison gas attacks on Halabja, more than 5000 children, women and men lost their lives, thousands of people were injured and received permanent injuries and suffering from incurable diseases. Even new born babies in Halabja suffer, up to now, from diseases and congenital abnormalities. The attack is seen as the largest poison gas massacre of civilians since the Second World War.

The conference consisted of five sessions, with presentations conducted within one full day dedicated to various important aspects of Halabja Genocide, Roboski and Kazan Valley massacre, the use of chemical and forbidden weapons against Kurds,

1

the responsibility and role of international community in taking measures against the denial and annihilation policies of states under which the Kurds are living.

The conference included historical background of the Halabja Genocide as well as the political situation in the region and the necessary actions to be taken for recognition of the Halabja Massacre by international community as a genocide, which is already officially recognised by Iraqi government and the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG).

The conference also focused on the current situation of Kurdish people in Turkey and recent massacre in Roboski, where the Turkish military air strike on 28 December 2011 killed 34 civilians, including 18 children on the Iraqi Kurdistan border near the Kurdish village of Roboski. The conference raised also the case of the so-called "Kazan Valley massacre", where 37 militants of PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) lost their lives on 22 October 2011, during a Turkish offensive using chemical weapons.

Jürgen Klute, German Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and Member of the European United Left / Nordic Green Left Group(GUE/NGL), opened the conference calling for a "minute of silence" in honour of the Halabja Genocide victims. Because the conference was held on International Women’s Day (8th of March), all participants celebrated International Women’s day and wished to the oppressed women and oppressed people of the world to fully enjoy their rights. In his opening speech Mr. Klute said, "The European Parliament is a perfect place for the commemoration of the Halabja genocide, because here people from different countries come together and try to solve peacefully the conflicts." Klute said "The origin of the European Union is in the war all over Europe. Like in the Kurdish case, the tragedies, which happened, can not be undone, but we can remember the victims and ensure that dignity of victims is restored."

MEP Klute said that the daily life of Kurds in different regions is still marked by violence and suffering, giving as example the recent poison attacks by the Turkish army against Kurds in Kazan Valley and in the village of Robosky. He said: "Suffering of Kurdish people must come to an end, enough is enough!". He also added that, "the European Union has a certain responsibility not only to contribute to the peace in the region by political and economical means, but also to end the weapons' supply to countries in conflict", drawing attention to that "the poisonous gas bombs used in Halabja massacre originated from Germany and other European countries". He concluded his speech by saying that rights of Kurdish people must be respected and asked to the participants to share their suggestions about the international recognition of Halabja massacre as genocide, which is an important issue for the peace in the region.

In his video message, Minister of Martyrs and Anfal Affairs of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Sabah Ahmad Mohammad gave many examples of massacres committed against Kurds by the Ba'ath regime of Saddam Hussein, such as the displacement of more than eight thousand Barzani family members from their villages to an unknown destination in 1983 (trace of them was found after the downfall of the dictatorial regime when the remains and the skeletons of many of them were gathered up from mass graves in different parts of Iraq), the Anfal

2

campaign in 1988 (which aimed to destroy settlements populated by Kurds), and the Halabja chemical gas attack in 1988.

He said: "Today, these crimes committed against Kurds are recognized in Iraq as crimes of mass annihilation, genocide and crimes against humanity. The international community should also do the same, recognizing them as genocides." He explained that the KRG and many other political parties are working on the establishment of lobbies, groups for support and advisory committees which will work in cooperation with the Kurdish Ministries to provide international recognition of the atrocities committed against Kurdish people. He concluded by saying: "This recognition will contribute to prevent future crimes and massacres against Kurdish people and other peoples around the world."

Demir Celik, MP from pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) in Turkey, spoke about the violence against the people of Mesopotamia from ancient times until today. He said: "Kurds from the four parts of divided Kurdistan went through legendary sufferings, which still continue in many places today. The hegemonic, assimilation policies of the countries in the Middle East oppress the Kurdish people and deprive them from their fundamental human rights". Celik added that even in the twenty-first century thousands of Kurdish "prisoners of conscience" are forcibly removed from democratic participation in the life of the countries where they live and "it's the duty of all of us to fight for the rights of the Kurdish people". Celik said that," 16th of March is symbolic; we had great sufferings throughout history and we have a lot of lessons to learn from past." Celik concluded by saying: "Today Kurdish people is still under attack, as seen in Roboski massacre where 34 civilians -including 18 children- have been killed during a Turkish military air strike, or as seen in the Kazan Valley massacre. Chemical and biological weapons have been used in this massacres, I by my self went to the funeral and saw 19 of those 37 Kurdish people's bodies were burnt and they were suffered from 3rd and 4th degree burns which means that chemical and biological weapons used against these people."

Nejeeba Omer from Women Movement for Freedom in the Kurdistan Region criticized the "Western countries, which care only about their own democratic and peaceful existence, don't support oppressed people in other countries". Omer pointed out that "as history shows, often women are the main victims of the massacres against Kurds and they need moral and economical support to join the struggle for freedom and participate equally in all spheres of life".

The floor was given to victims and witnesses of Halabja genocide. Dana Halabjaiy from Property of Halabja Monument Foundation said that, "More than a hundred Western companies had been involved in supplying poisonous gas to Saddam Hussein and up to now only the Netherlands sentenced one company owner." "After the fall of the Iraqi dictatorship regime, the United Nations had enough documents about the countries and the companies which had supplied Saddam" said Halabjaiy.

Nigar Nuri Arif, victim of Halabja, held a speech that moved many in the audience to tears. She said "That day is unforgettable for me as far as I live, which caused me sleepless nights and horrendous nightmares when I remember that scene where bodies of thousands of elderly, youth, women, children and men were piled up! At that moment I realised that major catastrophic was about to hit my beloved city! That

3

scene can not possibly be comprehended by any human being because it wasn't compatible with human civilisation, with any morality and ethic." She added that, "The cruelty of Iraqi Regime aimed at annihilating Kurdish population for one single reason which is the sin that they were Kurds."

Mecid Heso, Kurdistan National Congress Executive Member, said that the victims of Iraq-Iran war were also Kurds. "Both countries used chemical weapons against Kurds" said Heso. He added that "Unfortunately, the international community not only failed to bring them to court, but the UN also failed to charge Iraq with crimes committed against humanity and genocide. The UN had all the documents showing what really happened in Iraq, but decided not to act". Mecid Heso also presented the list of European companies which had produced chemicals for the use of Saddam´s regime.

Danish MEP of the European United Left / Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL), Søren Bo Søndergaard, chaired the second part of the conference, and in his opening remarks he said that "some of the people who sold poisons and chemicals to Saddam's regime have been punished, people who conducted the massacre have partially been punished, but the owner of the ship who transported the poisons from Europe to Iraq have never been prosecuted". He added that: "Why not? If you go back to Nurnberg Process, after the Second World War, it was very clearly established that if you are part of such a massacre, you can not claim that you did not know for what purpose that poison would have been used. Therefore all of the people who were responsible for this genocide should be brought to court and punished."

Jan Bojer Vindheim, from Green Party of Norway, in his speech about political significance of the gassing of Halabja said that, "It has been established beyond doubt that the gassing of Halabja was indeed done by Iraqi forces. He said: "To achieve recognition of this fact it would seem that objective historical information is needed; and also that the evaluation of these historical facts be separated from the present political situation." Vindheim also advised the Kurdish organizations and authorities to work more professionally, to archive and describe by academic and scientific means the atrocities committed against the Kurdish people in order to achieve international recognition.

Ana Miranda, MEP of Group of the Greens in the European Parliament, expressed her personal and political solidarity with the Kurds: “We, from Catalonia, Galicia, Basque country in Spain, support the Kurdish people and their struggle for human rights, freedom and democracy”. Ana Miranda added that "We have to work all together to set the recognition of Halabja as genocide in the agenda of EP." Miranda also called on the European Union to recognize the genocides against the Kurdish people and to take to court the European companies which sold chemical products to Saddam’s regime.

Hans Branscheidt, German Board Member of the EU’s Turkey Civic Commission, was one of the first foreigners who visited Halabja soon after the poisonous gas attack. At that time Branscheidt was Executive Director of Medico International, humanitarian organization, which work for human rights and health. Branscheidt said he was in shock from the devastation and the brutal extermination.

4

He added that, "56 German companies were involved at that time in the production of the toxic gas used by the Iraqi Baath regime."

Karwan Saleh and Berevan Sharhank, Members of Federal Kurdistan Parliament, said that Federal Kurdistan is still being bombed daily by neighbouring countries such as Iran and Turkey. “We don’t want to be victims of these crimes because of the economical interests of other countries. It’s time that Europe and the West take their responsibility”, said Saleh.

Delegates in the conference also discussed the recent poison attacks and use of chemical and biological weapons by the Turkish army against Kurds in Kazan Valley where 37 youths were killed and in the village of Roboski where 34 Kurdish civilians were killed.

Professor Dirk Rochtus from International University Lessius in Antwerp, Belgium, analyzed the historical background and the current situation in Turkey, and made a comparison between the Armenian and the Kurdish genocides. Rochtus deplored the silence of the Western countries, which don’t help Turkey to face its own history and apologize for the massacres against Armenians and Kurds. “Genocide turns into a double genocide when it is being denied or minimized”, pointed out Rochtus. He gave as a positive example Germany, which apologized for the atrocities, committed during the Second World War and regained its dignity and respect among other nations.

Dr. Salar Basire from Sulaimaniyah University, a long-time researcher of the use of the chemical weapons in Kurdistan, condemned the support of Western countries for dictatorship regimes. In particular, the West’s weapons supply, which made the Halabja, Roboski and Kazan Valley massacres possible. He said that "the problem lies on Governments and companies that supplied Saddam to kill and that are still supplying other countries to kill Kurds today."

Sevket Akdemir, Representative of IHD-Regional Office in Turkey said: "When we look at the statements made by officials of the state about Roboski massacre we see that without any warning air crafts bombarded the region. It is an extrajudicial killing and regarding the number of people were killed this can be considered as a massacre. He added, "The UN must analyze what happened and the State authorities must recognize this as a massacre, they must apologize and they should assume the responsibility. The Chief of staff, the Minister of Interior and all the commanders in chief should be suspended." Unfortunately none of the ministers and commanders in chief has been asked for their resignation and was suspended from their position." said Akdemir. He concluded by saying that “EU can convey the messages of the Kurds which are peace, freedom and human rights to the rest of the world? We all should remember this: without peace there is not life!” said Akdemir.

The representatives from human rights organizations strongly criticized Turkey, which despite its membership in NATO, Council of Europe, United Nations and as candidate for membership in EU, didn’t allow them to collect evidences and investigate the massacres. In addition they called upon international community to take concrete steps in order to Kurds to feel safer for the future.

5

Sakir Caliskan from Mazlum-Der in Turkey and Clémentine Frances, a lawyer from Selarl Capjuris, presented their observation reports of the massacres in Roboski and Kazan Valley. Caliskan said “Turkey doesn't consider the fight against PKK in the context of war as defined in the international law. Turkey considers that as an interior security problem and question of terrorism. If it is an interior security issue why aircrafts and other heavy armaments are still being used? Therefore, this is a paradox and Turkey as a state who ratified Geneva Convention has to obey the obligations stated in the conventions." He added, "It is clear sign that Turkey is in war with its own citizens. The EU and the international community should help to stop this human tragedy in the twenty-first century."

In the last session of the conference the latest use of chemical weapons against Kurds in Northern Kurdistan has been discussed. Refiq Gafur, KNK member from Norway, draw attention to the Conventions in 1925 and 1993 which prohibited use of chemical weapons as well as their development, production and stockpiling. He said that," These conventions are binding all states signed and ratified." He added that "The main purpose of such conferences is struggle against genocide of all people wherever in the world." He concluded his remarks by saying that,"So we have to say no more Halabja, no more Anfal and no more Roboski."

Dr Ahmet Selcuk Mizrakli, former President of the Chamber of Diyarbakir Medical Association, said that "The world has seen one of the worst violent and one of the worst crimes against humanity. This is what we are discussing here today and this is Halabja and Anfal." He pointed out that none of the permanent members of UN Security Council and even during the Arab League meeting none of the member countries has condemned the Halabja Genocide right after the massacres conducted. He said that, "Everyone performed three monkeys in Halabja." "Turkey has been using chemical weapons locally in the war against PKK. It has been established by a report prepared in the University of Munich that Turkish Army had used chemical weapons in Bilika operations and the current Chief of the Turkish Army was the commander of this military operation." He continued, "It is clear that chemical weapons have been used many times. The Turkish Army was leaving the bodies of guerrillas in the operation area and after a few days the families of guerrillas were going to take the bodies. Why? Did they use chemical weapons and because of that they didn’t go?" "We have never reached the autopsy results of the killed guerrillas in Kazan Valley because we were not given access to it. And after a while the officers of the Forensic Medicine Institution made an explanation and that after the toxicological analysis of whereas conducted made, they were saying there wasn’t any evidence of chemical weapons found that shows chemical weapons have been used. Therefore the “one” who has polluted is the “one” who is actually washing the dirty laundry and cleaning up the act. So it is not credible" said Mizrakli.

The last speaker of the conference was Prof. Dr. Gerhard Freilinger from University of Vienna who treated the victims of Halabja massacre. He said: "After the treatment of the patients we discovered that it was the gas who caused their physical damages. Those patients were not even soldiers, they were women and children but unfortunately we always received them after a late stage and we lost many of them." "As a doctor and as an ex prisoner in ex-Yugoslavia, I have seen the results of the chemical attacks and I have never seen anything worse than cases of toxic in my life" he said. He concluded, "It is genocide and we must have those states that used

6

chemical weapons condemned and punished. This is what I am calling for, in my 85 years old, because this is cruelty."

7

The participants of the conference have adopted the following Final Declaration(Brussels, 8th of March, 2012)

Our conference recognized that the most well known of the genocides against the Kurdish people was the genocide carried out by Saddam’s regime in Halabja in 1988. However, it was also said that the Kurds are currently facing policies of genocide on a daily basis.

Our conference has determined that the genocides suffered by the Kurdish people have derived from the denial and annihilation policies of the sovereign states under which the Kurds are living.

Our conference has inferred that these genocides have at times been carried out with the direct or indirect support of European states by overriding their own democratic values; therefore, the approach of EU states and international organizations to the Kurdish question has been condemned. It has been called upon the EU states and international organizations to cease helping these states on grounds of historical and democratic norms.  

Our conference is calling on international organizations to officially recognize the Halabja massacre as genocide and move to ensure that the undertakers of the Roboski massacre will be held responsible and brought to account for their actions.

Our demands to the EU, international organizations and Iraqi authorities regarding Halabja:

a. We call upon the EU and UN to formally recognize these crimes as genocide.

b. To be against any policy that may lead to a repeat of such crimes against the Kurdish nation or any other nation.

c. We call upon the Iraqi government to materially compensate the victims and the Kurdish nation. At the same time the Iraqi government should ensure a minute silence for the remembrance of the Halabja Genocide every year on the 16th of March.

d. European Parliament needs to work on requesting the Iraqi government to provide an official apology to the Kurdish nation and undertake steps for such action.

e. The EU governments need to cooperate with the Iraqi government and the KRG – who have already officially accepted Halabja as genocide – for international recognition of crimes against Kurds as genocide and through various policies to support the Kurdish identity in the neighbouring countries where Kurds live.

f. We call upon the European Parliament to work for recognizing the 16th of March as an international day against chemical weapons and mass destruction

Our demands to the EU and international organizations regarding Roboski:

8

On the 28th of December 2011 between the hours of 21:30-22:30 Turkish Fighter Jets bombed a group of civilians in the village of Roboski, Sirnak, who were on their way back having earlier crossed the border into Iraq. As a result of this bombardment a total of 35 civilians of which 17 were children tragically lost their lives, 1 person was injured and 2 people escaped with no injuries. Although the massacre occurred 71 days ago the fact that the details of the massacre have not been fully disclosed shows that the state have played a part in this massacre.  

At this present time we are no longer discussing the reality of the massacre, but rather, by who and why this massacre was carried out?

As a result of this attack 35 people’s right to life was taken from them. This, without a doubt, carries this message: if you do not accept the denial and annihilation policies of the Turkish state you will be annihilated. 

We demand that the Turkish state finds the people responsible for this massacre and demand that international organizations investigate the incident and make sure the people responsible are brought to justice.

In accordance:

1- We demand that this attack is acknowledged as an extrajudicial killing and due to the numbers killed should be accepted as a mass killing.

2- That this is a continuation of the extrajudicial killings carried out under the name of “struggle against Terror”.

3- That the insistence of force in the solution of the Kurdish question forms the basis of such dark acts of violence, and so the UN and EU should pressurize Turkey to adopt a more peaceful and democratic approach for the solution of the Kurdish question.

4- For national and international civil society organizations to show awareness by investigating further.

5- Finally, we call upon the human rights committees of the UN, EC and EU to send delegations to the region for full investigation

(end)

9