KURDISH officials have demanded that Turkey be charged with war crimes for its alleged use of chemical weapons during its illegal invasion and five-month bombardment of Iraqi Kurdistan.

The Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), an umbrella organisation that includes the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), called today for “all forces of democracy” to bring Turkey to court for crimes against humanity. 

It accused the European Union, the United States and the United Nations of complicity with the military offensive while the Turkish state “is using chemical weapons, setting fire to forests and oppressing the Kurdish people.”

“Not a single state or responsible international organisation has taken action so far,” KCK officials told the Morning Star.

The EU, US and the UN are quick to condemn the use of chemical weapons when it involves countries in which they seek regime change, the organisation said.

“But when chemical weapons are used by their own allies, they ignore these crimes and take no action. 

“By doing so, they make it clear that they are neither serious nor consistent in their stance against chemical weapons,” KCK said.

Turkey launched Operation Claw Lightning in April, which, it insists, is a military offensive against the PKK. 

But it has been accused of a litany of war crimes and atrocities, including the bombing of refugee camps, hospitals and driving thousands of Kurdish civilians from their homes.

A Morning Star report into the alleged use of chemical weapons earlier this year led to calls for the establishment of a commission of inquiry in the Turkish parliament. 

This was, however, rejected as “an insult” and Turkey has continued its war on the Kurdish population with impunity, shrugging off accusations of “a genocidal colonialism” against the Kurdish people and a “tyranny of unparalleled proportions” against its own population.

Turkish jets continue to pound Iraqi Kurdish villages daily, destroying buildings and agricultural land. 

“Every day the Turkish army sets fire to the forests of Kurdistan with its war planes, tanks and artillery and destroys the nature there as if this were a natural right of the Turkish state; everybody is simply watching silently,” a KCK executive statement read.

The KCK called for all democratic forces to raise their voices against Turkey’s war crimes and break the international silence of world powers and a compliant media.

“The Turkish government is committing crimes against the Kurdish people and all humanity. It will definitely be brought to justice and held accountable for this,” it said.