Der Spiegel thinks so:
German experts have confirmed the authenticity of photographs that purport to show PKK fighters killed by chemical weapons. The evidence puts increasing pressure on the Turkish government, which has long been suspected of using such weapons against Kurdish rebels. German politicians are demanding an investigation.
It would be difficult to exceed the horror shown in the photos, which feature burned, maimed and scorched body parts. The victims are scarcely even recognizable as human beings. Turkish-Kurdish human rights activists believe the people in the photos are eight members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) underground movement, who are thought to have been killed in September 2009.
The PKK are an horrific, Pol Pot-esque outfit. However, the use of chemical weapons – illegal in any event – has terrible resonances for Kurds, in particular.
It is notable that the accusations come not only from Christian Democrats, but also from “politicians from the far-left Left Party” and Claudia Roth, the co-chair of Germany’s Green Party. It will be interesting to see whether this story has any traction outside Germany, or at a United Nations level.
It is difficult to evaluate independently the quality of the evidence on which the accusation is based. It is, however, notable that Erdogan recently promised that the PKK would“drown in their own blood” and “melt away in their own darkness”
Did he mean that literally?
