HRW: Avoid Past Violations in Northern Iraq

In a letter sent to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Human Rights Watch recalled gross violations committed in the fifteen-year conflict in southeastern Turkey. Those violations included widespread arbitrary detentions, torture, extrajudicial executions, unlawful expulsions, and destruction of civilian property. Although the conflict with the rebel Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) essentially ended with a unilateral PKK ceasefire in 1999, little has been done in Turkey to hold those responsible for the abuse accountable or to purge the security forces of violators.

“Turkey has a bad record of violations against civilians while battling rebel Kurds in southeastern Turkey,” said Elizabeth Andersen, executive director of Human Rights Watch’s Europe and Central Asia division. “It needs to be taking precautionary steps today, to make sure its troops don’t commit repeat violations in any operations it undertakes in northern Iraq.”

Human Rights Watch called on the Turkish government to:

* Ensure that no troops or units responsible for violations in southeastern Turkey are deployed in any operations in northern Iraq;

* Not deploy to northern Iraq any paramilitary Village Guards, responsible for many of the violations committed in southeastern Turkey;

* As a check against abuse, ensure that any operations in northern Iraq are characterized by the maximum possible transparency, including access to the area for non-governmental human rights monitors and journalists;

* Commit to providing the International Committee of the Red Cross access to any prisoners it may take in northern Iraq; and

* Facilitate end-use monitoring of military equipment by supplier governments, including the United States and the United Kingdom.

“These are the safeguards that Turkey should be putting in place today, regardless of whether they end up engaging in northern Iraq,” Andersen said. “Such confidence-building measures can help reduce tension and prevent any Turkish involvement from turning very ugly.”

Human Rights Watch takes no position on the legal justifiability of war, including U.S.-led military action in Iraq. Its work on Iraq focuses on continuing human rights abuses and the compliance by all parties with international humanitarian law and protections for Iraqi civilians.

Click on the blue line to read Human Rights Watch’s letter to Prime Minister Erdogan

Click on the blue line to read Human Rights Watch’s work relating to the war in Iraq