Author(s):
Yeshua Moser-Puangsuwan <yeshua@icbl.org> .
Wednesday 19 July 2006
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) declared that they will no longer use anti-personnel landmines in their armed struggle in Turkey, Geneva Call, a Swiss based NGO announced on 18 July in Geneva.
Turkish mine victim who lives near the Syrian border in one area previously mined by the Turkish government, and where the PKK have operations.
PKK political and armed leadership signed their names to Geneva Call’s Deed of Commitment which commits the organization not only to refrain from mine use, but also to cooperate in a program to destroy any mine stocks they may hold. They will further be expected to cooperate in the clearance of mines which they or others may have laid previously in their areas of operation.
The PKK's declaration that it will forego any further anti-personnel mine use follows that of neighboring Kurdish groups in Northern Iraq. Both the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), now part of the Kurdish Regional Government of Iraq, sent letters to the UN Secretary General in 1999 and 2000 ensuring that the principles and obligations of the Mine Ban Treaty would be realized by their organizations in Northern Iraq. Both organizations also later agreed to the Geneva Call Deed of Commitment. Mine action programs in areas under the control of the KPD and PUK in northern Iraq have been carried out by humanitarian demining NGOs under the auspices of a mine action center coordinated by the Kurdish Regional Government of Iraq.
However, at the time when the KPD and PUK were making these commitments, the PKK was believed to use landmines in northern Iraq. The PKK maintained operational bases in Kurdish areas of northern Iraq from which they launched operations into Turkey, resulting in incursions by Turkish military forces against them, according to past Landmine Monitor reports. Turkey acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty in 2003.
The agreement to the Geneva Call Deed of Commitment is considered to indicate a broader willingness by a non-state armed group to commit to other humanitarian norms. The PKK has been reported to be involved in attacks using improvised explosive devices in which civilians have been killed or injured.
In the press release by Geneva Call announcing the PKKs agreement to the Deed of Commitment, a commander of the PKK's armed wing, the People’s Defence Forces (HPG) stated, “Anti-personnel mines affect civilians and cause irreparable damage, often long after fighting is over. Our strategy is to employ discriminate weapons only. This is why we use command-detonated devices, no longer AP mines.” Also quoted was the PKK president, Zubeyir Aydar, who stated, “Our organization has been discussing the issue of landmines for several years. We have now decided to stop using anti-personnel mines because we realized that this coward weapon is against ou r struggle and principles”