September 30, 2016
Because of the fact that the political powers in Turkey are not willing to create a democratic and peaceful solution to the Kurdish Problem, they cause the problem to get bigger with violence and war policies causing us to suffer more as society.
In Tukey, starting with the 2007 dated mandate for troops in Iraq, mandates were renewed each year. Syria has been included in the process in 2014 and joint mandates for Iraq and Syria were issued as of 2014. Within this scope, the mandate for troops in Iraq and Syria was proposed for the agenda of the Parliament on 1 October.
In accordance with the Article 92 of the Constitutional Law, Turkey has to act in the situations legitimated by the international law in order to send armed forces to foreign countries. In this case, permanently deploying troops in Iraq and Syria without a decision by the UN Security Council constitutes a situation which is contrary to the Constitutional Law. The Government’s statement that there is no legal problem regarding the mandates has no consideration. Besides the UN Security Council, the governments of Iraq and Syria have no concerning decision. Therefore, this unlawful situation will give rise to important legal problems for Turkey in future. The irresponsibility of this government may be brought to next generations to account.
As right defenders, we state and defend that all these problems can be solved on the basis of democracy and human rights. Again, we would like to state that the Kurdish Problem constitutes the most important factor of Turkey’s democracy and human rights problems, and this problem can only be solved through democratic and peaceful ways. On all occasions the Government justifies the mandate for troops in Iraq and Syria with illegal organizations, especially PKK and PKK-associated organizations. As known, the dialog between the state and PKK started in 1993; however, no solution was produced in spite of the 23 years passed. The closest moment to the solution was the 28 February 2015 dated Dolmabahçe Declaration. However, with the denial of this declaration by the political power, armed conflicts started again in July 2015 and there still has been an ongoing moderate-sized war.
Similar problems in the world are solved by experiencing conflict-peace processes. Recently, the agreement made between the Columbian Government and FARC guerillas is such as to be a model for Turkey. On this opportunity, the Columbian people are needed to be celebrated for creating a solution to conflicts.
Instead of finding a solution for the Kurdish Problem, Turkey’s attitude to put the problem in a difficult situation with mandates for troops is certainly inadmissible. It looks impossible for Turkey who has been becoming a direct side of the on-going Syrian Civil War, to get out of this swamp. Turkey needs to establish a good relationship with Syrian Kurds who are relatives of the 20 million Kurdish citizens living in Turkey and to respect their right to determine their own future. Additionally, Turkey needs to immediately put an end to the armed conflicts taking place in the country and initiate the dialog and negotiation period which will solve the problem with the Kurdish political movement through democratic ways. Again on this opportunity, we would like the ongoing armed conflicts and loss of lives to be ended.
Within the scope of fighting against the jihadists who committed crimes against humanity and genocide against Yezidis in the ongoing Iraqi and Syrian civil wars, Turkey does not need to deploy troops in Syria and Iraq. What Turkey should do against the jihadist groups is to ensure border security and not to let them use Turkey’s territory. Furthermore, Turkey should take preventive measures with effective investigations against these groups within Turkey and ensure the security of Turkish citizens. In spite of the mandate for troops agreed as of 2014, 14 attacks, most of which were bombing, by IS/DAESH – one of the jihadist groups – could not be prevented in Turkey and 265 people lost their lives and 1.250 were injured as a result of these attacks. Apparently, these attacks were not prevented by issuing mandates for troops in Iraq and Syria. These attacks are more likely to increase with the Turkish Armed Forces entering into Syria on 24 August 2016. As a matter of fact, attacks to Kilis are continued.
Consequently, human rights defenders always defend the right to peace, not war. Defending peace is the most privileged subject for us. Once again we invite the Turkish Government to implement peaceful policies instead of war and call for withdrawal of the mandate.
Human Rights Association