International Crimes Of ISIL

Crucifixions, kidnappings, taking hostages, mass killings of captive soldiers and civilians, rape, sexual slavery and child abuse, including forcing children to be soldiers -- these are the basic accusations I have collected from the press regarding the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). These are, indeed, seen as the most serious crimes of international concern, as stated in Article 1 of the Rome Statute, an international convention establishing the International Criminal Court (ICC).
I believe that the United States' strategy, which was declared by President Barack Obama last Wednesday, will be less powerful if it is not supported by international criminal law. In order to attract more attention to the issue and to have a clearer sight on what the case will be later, it is essential to have a legal strategy for the perpetrators of these odious crimes. Both the US and Turkey are not state parties to the Rome Statute yet. The ICC would be more powerful if these two countries were components of the court.
The inclusion of the crime of terrorism in the Rome Statute has been offered by Turkey several times to the UN, but it was not included in the statute as it is the most controversial and highly debated issue in international criminal law. The alleged crimes of ISIL constitute crimes against humanity, as stated in Article 7 of the Rome Statute. Attacks directed against civilian populations, extermination, enslavement, deportation or forcible transfer of populations, forced pregnancy, persecution and torture are some of the acts that are described in the article. War crimes are defined in Article 8 of the statute, which fits directly or indirectly with the atrocities ISIL committed.
Turkey declared several times its intent to ratify the Rome Statute, but unfortunately it was not possible to do so because of several reasons related to the Kurdish question and the Cyprus issue. It will become a bigger problem for Turkey if it postpones the accession. The Coalition for the ICC (CICC), a civil society coalition consisting of 2,500 civil society organizations from 150 countries, started a campaign for Turkey this September in order to invite the Turkish government to become a state party to the Rome Statute. If Turkey were a component of the ICC now, its hand would be stronger against ISIL and in the international area.
In my opinion, two important happenings yesterday related to the issue were recorded as key moments for the coming war era. About 60,000 Syrian Kurds crossed the border and fled to Turkey from ISIL, and, more importantly, 46 Turkish nationals seized by ISIL militants in June -- including Turkey's consul general in Mosul, other diplomats, members of the special forces and their families -- returned home. These two important steps will definitely affect Turkey's policy regarding ISIL, as it has been accused of providing help to ISIL. Although Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu thinks differently, Turkey's national interests have been in accordance with international interests ever since the ISIL issue. It is time for Turkey to ratify the Rome Statue, take a clearer position against perpetrators of crimes and stay in solidarity with oppressed people, especially by continuing its open-border policy to all refugees, as it has been a celebrative strategy in terms of human rights so far.
Former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan once stated, “What governments and people don't realize is that sometimes the collective interest -- the international interest -- is also the national interest.”

GÜNAL KURŞUN (Cihan/Today's Zaman)