A Surreal Story Of Crimes Against Humanity

Last week, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein made a press release and urged the Turkish government “to respect the fundamental rights of civilians in the security operations [in southeast Turkey] and to promptly investigate the alleged shooting of a group of unarmed people in the southeastern town of Cizre, after shocking video footage of the event emerged last week.”
As you may already have watched, cameraman Refik Tekin, who was also wounded in Cizre, recorded video showing an unarmed group of civilians being shot at as they carried a white flag and pushed a cart for carrying the dead. Although it was not clear until today whether the attackers were the security forces or Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants, it was alleged that a paramilitary group backed by government forces called the Esedullah Team was behind the attack. Tekin was hospitalized in Mardin and then taken into custody for “being a member of a terrorist organization.”
“Filming an atrocity is not a crime, but shooting unarmed civilians most certainly is. It is essential there is a thorough, independent, impartial investigation into this and any other events that have led to the wounding or killing of civilians. The emergence of this video raises major question marks about what exactly has been going on in Cizre and other parts of southeastern Turkey, which the security forces have allegedly sealed off from the outside world,” Zeid said in his press release.
Last Sunday, I was in Diyarbakır to speak at a conference on crimes against humanity and war crimes with the Human Rights Association and the Samer Political and Social Research Center. As I spoke on the prevention of civilian deaths during internal armed conflicts, the audience could hear tanks firing in Diyarbakır's old city, Sur. It was quite a surreal moment for me because I found myself in the middle of a practical course that I had given many times theoretically.
I really have no idea why Turkey has become a country like this. According to the opposition, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's unwise policies have brought the country to civil war. According to the government, the PKK has brought an end to peace negotiations. In my opinion, none of these are important anymore. The first item on our agenda must be stopping the armed conflict.
It is not a joke that any leader can be tried at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. We have been reading about or watching armed conflicts between government and rebel forces in Africa, but now it is our country's turn to be watched by others. The prevention of civilian casualties during internal armed conflicts is the positive responsibility of a state. If the state fails to fulfill its duty, the representatives and administrators of that state are under criminal liability. The Constitution of Turkey says in Article 137 that “an order that in itself constitutes an offense shall, under no circumstances, be executed; the person who executes such an order shall not evade responsibility.” Politics in Turkey must be legalized rather than the law being politicized. The Hague is not a joke.

GÜNAL KURŞUN [Cihan/Today's Zaman]