Footage of alleged Turkish chemical weapons attack in Iraq were leaked (Source: The Morning Star Online)

Exclusive: Footage of alleged Turkish chemical weapons attack leaked to Star amid calls for independent investigations

Press article from Steve Sweeney, The Morning Star Online, May 16 – 2021

British people were urged to speak out against genocide today as Kurdish officials demanded global action and investigations into alleged chemical attacks in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region of Iraq.

Footage sent exclusively to the Morning Star purported to show the aftermath of a chemical attack, which officials said took place in the Avashin region of the mountainous Duhok province on May 3. It appears to show the dead body of a guerilla fighter from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) being pulled out of an underground tunnel by Turkish soldiers.

Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) spokesman Zagros Hiwa told the Morning Star: “You can see that the martyr has no wounds on his body. It is clear that this is the result of a chemical attack by Turkish forces.” He explained that the footage was circulating on Turkish fascists’ WhatsApp groups, but had not appeared in the Turkish media “as it would prove that they are celebrating the use of chemical weapons.”