EC Meeting July 2022

a blank with the government refusing to elaborate. Further requests have been submitted and will be added to this report as they are received. It cannot simply be put down to ignorance that the OPCW has continued to ignore the countless accusations chemical attacks by Turkey. It is clearly something deeper than that. It is also probably no mere coincidence that the head of the OPCW for a number of years was Ahmet Üzümcü, a Turkish career diplomat who held many meetings with government officials. Unusually for an official body it ignores requests for comment on Turkey’s alleged use of chemical weapons, of which I have made numerous requests over the years. It is the only organisation that consistently does so maintaining a cloak of secrecy that damages the credibility of the organisation. My media accreditation was declined for the OPCW annual conference which took place…it was judged by a panel, the composition of which is unknown with no appeals process. No reason was given for the refusal, although I strongly suspect it was a political decision. I am one of only two journalists writing in British newspapers - the other being Peter Hitchens of the Mail on Sunday - to regularly report on the OPCW, particularly the controversial report and alleged cover-up into the alleged chemical attack in Douma which led to British, French and US airstrikes. The OPCW continues to ignore appeals from political figures, Kurdish officials and most disturbingly the victims of Turkey’s alleged chemical attacks. It has been invited on many an occasion to send a fact-finding team to the region to carry out investigations. Those on the ground simply do not have the necessary equipment to carry out such tests, meaning external support is vital. Last year I managed to obtain soil samples from the site of a chemical attack, along with clothing and hair samples. Unfortunately there has been a lack of will to test them for chemicals. I am not a scientist, I have no idea what the samples will show. But I do know it has the potential to clarify whether chemicals have been used. A number of Kurds have been arrested for protesting at the OPCW annual conference held last December at the Hague. Instead of listening to and acting on

their concerns the authorities have responded in a heavy-handed way, keeping some of them in prison and deporting another from the Netherlands. That they will appear in court while Turkey continues to operate with impunity is a perverse travesty and endemic of the treatment of Kurds at the hands of powerful institutions. For the OPCW to maintain any of its already significantly damaged reputation, and accusations of corruption and political bias, it must not only focus on those countries that its major donors insist on investigating, but it must listen to the voices of the victims. The world turned and looked away when chemicals were being sold to Saddam Hussein. Five thousand Kurds were gassed at Halabja as a result. We have the power to stop this. It must never happen again. RESPONSES Other bodies have been similarly dismissive of the repeated allegations of chemical attacks. In brief these are captured below. The European Union In a written response to a question tabled by Swedish MEP Malin Björk, the EU foreign policy spokesman Josep Borrell said: “The EU supports Iraq’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, and its efforts to develop a balanced foreign policy, maintaining good relations with regional and international partners. As noted in the March 2021 Joint Communication from the Commission and the High Representative to the European Council. Turkey is militarily active in northern Iraq where it carries out strikes against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). No reports of confirmed chemical attacks have, however, been presented. While the EU considers the PKK to be a group involved in terrorist acts under EU restrictive measures countries in the region are encouraged to coordinate anti-terrorist activities bilaterally. The EU also expects all countries in the region to act in full respect of international law, including international human rights and humanitarian law.

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