JamaliahYusofYacob - Akaun menakutkan daripada pembunuhan beramai-ramai yang didakwa daripada berpuluh-puluh orang awam Kurdish di bandar Turki tenggara Cizre telah dikumpulkan oleh RT William Whiteman, yang mengembara ke kawasan itu berikutan laporan tindakan keras tentera kejam ke atas penduduk.
Laporan tentera Turki menyembelih beratus-ratus orang awam yang terperangkap di bawah tanah Cizre, yang terletak di wilayah Sirnak Turki, pertama muncul pada bulan Februari. Seramai 150 orang telah didakwa dibakar hingga mati dalam salah seorang daripada mereka.
Itulah tuntutan tertentu yang telah dibuat oleh MP Turki Feleknas Uca dari Parti Demokratik Rakyat pro-Kurdish', yang bercakap kepada agensi Sputnik. Ini dan lain-lain orang yang terperangkap dilaporkan dinafikan akses kepada makanan dan bekalan perubatan. Walau bagaimanapun, sehingga kini, kekejaman yang dikatakan dilakukan oleh tentera Turki tidak dapat dibuktikan.
Whiteman mendapati saksi yang terselamat serangan dan mampu untuk menunjukkan tempat yang tepat dari pembunuhan beramai-ramai, di samping menyediakan butiran menakutkan kepada apa yang telah berlaku.
"Saya tidak akan mahu ini pada sesiapa. Erdogan telah memusnahkan DUNIA kami. Beliau telah membakar kami, "kata seorang saksi wanita, sambil menunjukkan kesan darah pada serpihan bangunan itu maut.
"3, 4 - mungkin 5 ratus orang. Terdapat orang-orang tua, wanita dan kanak-kanak - berusia seawal usia 10 tahun. Mereka membunuh seorang wanita yang sarat mengandung, "kata wanita itu, menyalahkan Erdogan untuk membunuh sewenang-wenangnya orang yang tidak bersalah semasa operasi memerangi keganasan yang dipanggil terhadap pemisah Parti Pekerja Kurdis (PKK).
"Wanita dan kanak-kanak tinggal di sini. Erdogan membunuh semua mereka dengan meriam berat, dia memusnahkan rumah2 ini, "kata wanita itu.
"Mereka mendakwa mereka berjuang 'pengganas' - tetapi di mana pengganas" katanya, dengan alasan bahawa semua mangsa orang awam.
Semasa pemeriksaan bandar, Whiteman dilaporkan bau yang kuat mayat reput. Ini membawa beliau kepada satu lagi penemuan mengerikan - sebuah bangunan yang bawah tanah telah berkhidmat sebagai kubur besar-besaran.
BACA LAGI: 150 didakwa 'dibakar hidup-hidup oleh tentera Turki' semasa tindakan keras ke atas Parti Pekerja Kurdistan (PKK) http://on.rt.com/74wn
Antara 45 dan 50 orang telah dibakar hidup-hidup di salah satu bangunan, menurut seorang wanita tempatan demikian kepada Whiteman. Apa yang lebih teruk, kebanyakan mangsa nampaknya telah darah sejuk dipancung oleh tentera Turki, katanya.
"Mereka [tentera Turki] membakar semua daripada mereka. Setelah kami tiba di ruangan bawah ini kami mendapati badan dipancung, "kata saksi itu memberitahu Whiteman. "Mereka membakar mereka dan mereka dipancung."
RT telah mengemukakan rakaman gambar dalam Cizre untuk HRW (Human Rights Watch), MSF Antarabangsa dan MSF Timur Tengah (Médecins Sans Frontières), (Jawatankuasa Antarabangsa Palang Merah) ICRC, OHCHR (Pejabat Pesuruhjaya Tinggi PBB untuk Hak Asasi manusia), dan Amnesty International. Saluran ini ditanya sama ada pertubuhan berkenaan merancang untuk menyiasat dakwaan kekejaman tentera Turki 'terhadap orang awam di sana, dan jika mana-mana kenyataan akan dibuat.
Sejak operasi ketenteraan ke atas penduduk Kurdish di rantau Cizre bermula, ahli-ahli Parlimen Eropah telah menangani Presiden Turki Recep Tayyip Erdogan dalam surat terbuka dan ceramah, yang memintanya menghentikan keganasan di wilayah Turki didiami oleh Kurdis.
"Objektif kerajaan Erdogan adalah untuk sepenuhnya mempunyai kempen pembunuhan terhadap orang Kurdis, kerana itulah apa yang kini berlaku," kata Gregory Copley, editor jurnal Pertahanan dan Hal Ehwal Luar. "Ini kini pembunuhan beramai-ramai, kerana kerajaan Turki telah menafikan bahawa terdapat sebarang operasi ketenteraan utama dijalankan di sana."
Tentera Turki telah jelas telah menggunakan "senjata berat darat" dalam Cizre dan "mungkin juga senjata udara," katanya.
'Erdogan boleh berakhir di Hague untuk pembunuhan beramai-ramai Kurdis'
Mengulas mengenai keganasan di Cizre, Kani Xulam, pengarah Maklumat Kurdish Network Amerika (AKIN), menuduh kerajaan Erdogan jenayah perang.
"Apa yang kerajaan Turki telah dilakukan dalam Cizre adalah satu jenayah perang. Mereka telah menyerang orang awam yang tidak mengambil bahagian dalam pertempuran, "Xulam kepada RT, menekankan bahawa tentera Turki menyerang orang awam Kurdish yang tidak mengambil bahagian dalam pertempuran. "Dalam sebuah negara yang bercita-cita untuk menyertai Kesatuan Eropah dan panggilan sendiri ahli NATO, anda tidak menyasarkan seluruh bandar," kata pakar itu, sambil menambah bahawa "undang-undang perang" bermaksud membuat perbezaan antara orang awam dan pihak yang berperang.
Menurut data yang disediakan oleh Yayasan Hak Asasi Manusia Turki, "178 orang awam telah sengaja disasarkan dalam 3 bawah tanah yang berbeza dan di antara beberapa daripada mangsa adalah kanak-kanak berusia 9 hingga 10 tahun . . . Kerajaan bukan sahaja sengaja mengsasarkan dan membunuh mereka, tetapi juga membakarnya. Beberapa saudara-mara diberi timbunan tulang orang yang tersayang, "kata Xulam.
Xulam percaya bahawa serangan Ankara terhadap Kurdis berpunca daripada hakikat bahawa Erdogan mahu menjadi "pemimpin agung" tanpa bertanding atau "sultan" Turki, yang penduduk Kurdish dan Ahli Parlimen yang menentang sekeras-kerasnya. Menurut Xulam, matlamat Erdogan adalah untuk membuat minoriti yang ketara Kurdish etnik (15 hingga 30 % peratus daripada penduduk Turki dengan anggaran pelbagai) menerima status "rendah" sebagai "mata pelajaran," dan berhenti bahasa mencabar dan hak budaya, serta autonomi.
Operasi ketenteraan Turki terhadap militan PKK di bahagian tenggara negara ini telah dilancarkan pada Julai 2015, melanggar perjanjian gencatan senjata yang telah diadakan selama 2 tahun. Pada masa pembunuhan besar-besaran yang dikatakan dalam Cizre, televisyen kerajaan Turki mengumumkan bahawa 60 "pengganas" terbunuh dalam ruangan bawah tanah bangunan. Operasi di Cizre, yang, menurut Menteri Dalam Negeri Turki Efkan Ala, telah siap "dengan cara yang sangat berjaya," secara rasmi berakhir awal Februari.
Kekejaman yang didakwa telah membawa reaksi sedikit daripada kerajaan Barat, Turki ialah sebuah negara anggota NATO dan penting untuk berpunca orang-orang pelarian dan krisis asing menggenggam Eropah.
Kebanyakan kritikan telah datang dari kumpulan hak asasi manusia antarabangsa. Amnesty International melaporkan pada Januari bahawa sekurang-kurangnya 150 orang awam, wanita dan kanak-kanak di antara mereka, telah terbunuh dalam operasi tentera Turki, mengatakan bahawa kira-kira 200,000 orang telah meletakkan pada risiko dan sedang akses kepada perkhidmatan kerana perintah berkurung yang ketat dinafikan.
"Potong untuk bekalan air dan elektrik yang digabungkan dengan bahaya mengakses makanan dan rawatan perubatan manakala di bawah api yang mempunyai kesan yang amat buruk kepada penduduk, dan keadaan itu mungkin menjadi lebih buruk, cepat, jika ini tidak ditangani," kata John Dalhuisen , Pengarah Amnesty Antarabangsa untuk Eropah dan Asia Tengah, seperti yang dipetik dalam laporan itu.
Menunjukkan tindak balas longgar kepada pencabulan hak asasi manusia yang dilakukan secara beramai-ramai oleh pihak berkuasa Turki terhadap penduduk Kurdish, beliau menggesa masyarakat antarabangsa untuk tidak menjadikan buta pada konflik.
"Walaupun pihak berkuasa Turki muncul telah dipilih untuk mendiamkan kritikan dalaman, mereka telah menghadapi yang sangat sedikit daripada masyarakat antarabangsa. pertimbangan strategik yang berkaitan dengan konflik di Syria dan usaha bertekad untuk mendapatkan bantuan Turki di berpunca aliran pelarian ke Eropah tidak perlu mengeruhkan dakwaan pencabulan hak asasi manusia, "katanya.
‘BURNED to death, beheaded’: Cizre Kurds accuse Erdogan’s forces of civilian massacre (RT EXCLUSIVE)
Harrowing accounts of an alleged massacre of dozens of Kurdish civilians in the southeastern Turkish town of Cizre have been collected by RT’s William Whiteman, who traveled to the area following reports of a brutal military crackdown on the population.
Reports of Turkish troops slaughtering hundreds of civilians trapped in the basements of Cizre, which is located in Turkey’s Sirnak province, first surfaced in February. Some 150 people were allegedly burned to death in one of them.
That particular claim was made by Turkish MP Feleknas Uca from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party, who spoke to Sputnik agency. These and other trapped people were reportedly denied access to food and medical supplies. However, until now, the alleged atrocities committed by the Turkish forces could not be substantiated on the ground.
Whiteman found witnesses who survived the offensive and were able to show the exact place of the mass killing, while providing terrifying details on what had happened.
“I wouldn’t wish this on anyone. Erdogan has destroyed our world. He has burned us,” said a female witness, while showing blood stains on the debris of the deadly building.
“Three, four – maybe five hundred people. There were old people, women and children – some as young as 10 years old. They killed a heavily pregnant woman,” added the woman, blaming Erdogan for indiscriminately killing innocent people during the so-called counter-terrorism operation against Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) separatists.
“Women and children lived here. Erdogan killed all of them with heavy artillery, he destroyed this home,” added the woman.
“They claim they are fighting ‘terrorists’ – but where are the terrorists?” she said, arguing that all of the victims had been civilians.
While inspecting the town, Whiteman reported a strong scent of decomposing bodies. This led him to another chilling discovery – a building whose basement has served as a mass grave.
Between 45 and 50 people were burned alive in one of the buildings, according to a local woman speaking to Whiteman. What is worse, many of the victims appear to have been cold-bloodedly beheaded by the Turkish troops, she said.
“They [Turkish forces] burned all of them. When we entered this basement we found decapitated bodies,” the witness told Whiteman. “They burned them and beheaded them.”
RT has submitted the footage shot in Cizre to HRW (Human Rights Watch), MSF International and MSF Middle East (Médecins Sans Frontières), the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross), the OHCHR (Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights), and Amnesty International. The channel asked if the organizations in question are planning to investigate the claims of Turkish forces' atrocities against civilians there, and if any statements will be made.
Ever since the military operation on the Kurdish population in the Cizre region began, members of the European Parliament have been addressing Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan in open letters and public speeches, calling on him to put an end to the violence in Turkish regions inhabited by Kurds.
“The objective of the Erdogan government is to completely have a genocidal campaign against the Kurds, because that’s what’s now occurring,” said Gregory Copley, editor of the journal Defense and Foreign Affairs. “This is now genocide, because the Turkish government has denied that there is any major military operation underway there.”
The Turkish military has clearly been using “heavy ground weapons” in Cizre and “possibly even air weapons,” he added.
‘Erdogan could end up in The Hague for genocide of Kurds’
Commenting on the violence in Cizre, Kani Xulam, director of the American Kurdish Information Network (AKIN), accused Erdogan’s government of war crimes.
“What the government of Turkey has done in Cizre is a war crime. They have attacked civilians who have not taken part in the fighting,” Xulam told RT, stressing that the Turkish military attacked Kurdish civilians that were not taking part in the fighting. “In a country that is aspiring to join the European Union and calls itself a member of NATO, you don’t target a whole town,” the expert said, adding that the “laws of war” imply making a distinction between civilians and belligerents.
According to data provided by the Turkish Human Rights Foundation, “178 civilians were deliberately targeted in three different basements and among some of the dead were children as young as nine to 10 years old…The government not only deliberately targeted and killed them, but also burned them. Some relatives were given piles of bones of their loved ones,” Xulam said.
Xulam believes that Ankara’s offensive against the Kurds stems from the fact that Erdogan wants to be an uncontested “supreme leader” or “sultan” of Turkey, which the Kurdish population and its MPs strongly oppose. According to Xulam, Erdogan’s goal is to make the significant Kurdish ethnic minority (15 to 30 percent of Turkey’s population by various estimates) accept “inferior” status as “subjects,” and stop demanding language and cultural rights, as well as autonomy.
The Turkish military operation against PKK militants in the southeastern part of the country was launched in July 2015, breaking a ceasefire agreement that had held for two years. At the time of the alleged mass murder in Cizre, Turkish state television announced that 60 “terrorists” were killed in a building basement. The operation in Cizre, which, according to Turkish Interior Minister Efkan Ala, was completed “in a very successful fashion,” officially ended early February.
The alleged atrocities have brought little reaction from Western governments, as Turkey is a NATO member state and crucial to stemming the refugee and migrant crisis gripping Europe.
Most criticism has come from international human rights groups. Amnesty International reported in January that at least 150 civilians, women and children among them, had been killed in the Turkish military operation, saying that some 200,000 people had been put at risk and were being denied access to services due to strict curfews.
“Cuts to water and electricity supplies combined with the dangers of accessing food and medical care while under fire are having a devastating effect on residents, and the situation is likely to get worse, fast, if this isn’t addressed,” said John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International’s Director for Europe and Central Asia, as cited in the report.
Pointing out the lax reaction to the human rights violations committed en mass by Turkish authorities against the Kurdish population, he urged the international community not to turn a blind on the conflict.
“While the Turkish authorities appear determined to silence internal criticism, they have faced very little from the international community. Strategic considerations relating to the conflict in Syria and determined efforts to enlist Turkey’s help in stemming the flow of refugees to Europe must not overshadow allegations of gross human rights violations,” he added.
