Kurdish Protesters Hope the Occupy Gezi Movement Will Raise Awareness about the Turkish Government History of Violence towards the Nation’s Largest Ethnic Minority

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch, Middle East Desk

ISTANBUL, Turkey – A small but vocal minority of Kurds participating in the Occupy Gezi movement in Turkey since late May have been taking the opportunity to use the world’s attention on Turkey to raise awareness about the Turkish Government’s history of abuses against the Kurdish population.

Kurdish protesters demonstrate at Gezi Park, Istanbul. (Photo courtesy of Al Jazeera)

Kurds make up roughly twenty percent of the Turkish population and are a large minority in many of the country’s major cities including Istanbul. The Kurdish population of Turkey is indigenous to the eastern and southeastern regions of the country, near the borders with Syria, Iraq and Iran. However, a large percentage of Kurds have fled their indigenous homeland into major Turkish cities in search of employment after Kurdish villages have been destroyed as a result of warfare and large scale infrastructure projects.

The Kurdish population in Turkey has faced decades of persecution from the government, which has launched systematic campaigns to suppress the Kurdish language and cultural expression. Most recently, thousands of Kurdish villagers have been displaced from their homeland as a result of infrastructure projects connected to the Southeastern Anatolia Project (The GAP Project) which is one of the largest hydroelectric infrastructure projects in the world.

The goal of the GAP project is to capitalize on Tigris and Euphrates headwaters which run though the highlands of Eastern Turkey in order to produce hydroelectric power for industrial development. The project involved the construction of 22 major dams which led to the displacement of several predominately Kurdish villages in the region; this inflamed the tensions between the Kurdish people and the government of Turkey.

Emre Elmekci, a Kurdish protester in his mid-twenties hopes that the Occupy Gezi movement will help the Turkish majority and the world understand the persecution and violence that the Kurdish population has faced at the hands of the Turkish population.  According the Elmekci, the violence that has been occurring in the streets of majorly Turkish cities over the past few weeks is “like the state violence that the Kurds have been facing for decades.”

The Turkish government’s violent reaction to the Occupy Gezi movement, a movement that was a reaction to the Turkish government’s design to destroy Istanbul’s last public green space in order to serve economic interests by constructing a commercial shopping center, is similar to the government suppression and displacement of the Kurdish minority in order to support industrial interests in Turkey.

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Protesters #OccupyGezi to Save Istanbul Park – 14 June 2013

Al Jazeera – Protesting Kurds Finding Solidarity in Gezi – 12 June 2013

Kurd Net – Turkey’s GAP Project is an Ethnic & Cultural Genocide against Kurds – 31 March 2010

Kurdish Herald – Turkey’s GAP and Its Impact in the Region – September 2009

 

Memoir and Documents May Link Minnesota Man to World War II Atrocities

By Ben Kopp
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

BERLIN, Germany – Following evidence that a former Nazi SS officer has been living in Minnesota since 1949, Polish prosecutors promised to assist the U.S. Department of Justice in their investigation of falsified immigration papers. As obligated, Germany may prosecute Michael Karkoc for war crimes as a Nazi with “command responsibility,” even if no country can prove Karkoc’s direct involvement in atrocities.

Michael Karkoc is accused of having led a company in World War II that committed war crimes on behalf of the Nazis. (Photo courtesy of the Associated Press)

While no current evidence demonstrates that Karkoc directly committed war crimes, evidence corroborates suggestions that Karkoc was present as the company leader when his Ukrainian company massacred civilians. Further, Nazi SS files mention Officer Karkoc’s involvement in the 1944 Warsaw Uprising, where Nazis brutally suppressed a Polish rebellion.

In 1949, Karkoc denied his World War II military service to American authorities. However, records demonstrate that Karkoc worked as an officer and founding member of the SS-led Ukrainian Self Defense Legion. According to an SS payroll document, Karkoc was the highest-ranking officer of the company. Later, Karkoc was an officer in the SS Galician Division. Both organizations were blacklisted and their members forbidden from entering the United States.

While Germany plans to investigate with the possibility of future prosecution, Poland may also be a possibility because most alleged crimes were against Poles on Polish territory. Regardless, Karkoc would be unlikely to be tried in his native Ukraine, where such men are today largely seen as national heroes who fought for the country against the Soviet Union.

Members of his unit and other witnesses have told stories of brutal attacks on civilians. But Karkoc refused to answer questions. “I don’t think I can explain,” Karkoc said.

“It was all like a trance: setting the fires, the shooting, the destroying,” one of Karkoc’s men, Vasyl Malazhenski recalled in a 1967 statement. “Later, when we were passing in file through the destroyed village,” Malazhenski said, “I could see the dead bodies of the killed residents: men, women, children.”

In 1995, Karkoc published a memoir in Ukrainian. Karkoc wrote that he joined the German army in 1941, following the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. At that time, he fought on the Eastern Front in Ukraine and Russia, where he received an Iron Cross for bravery. In 1943, Karkoc helped found the Ukrainian Self Defense Legion. Also, Karkoc served as a company commander in the unit, which the SS managed until the end of the war. However, Karkoc does not discuss massacres of civilians.

As a hobby, a retired clinical pharmacologist researched Nazi war crimes. Through that research, he found Karkoc’s name among members of the SS Galician Division who emigrated to Britain. After an internet search revealed Karkoc’s Minnesota address, the pharmacologist informed AP.

One of Karkoc’s four sons born after the war stated that the story is “notably lacking in proof or evidence,” calling the AP’s story “sensationalist and scandalous.”

If finding the officers who committed World War II atrocities has been challenging to date, a greater difficulty presents itself in ensuring that Michael Karkoc is in fact Officer Karkoc.

For further information, please see:

Minneapolis Star Tribune – Son Disputes Report That Minneapolis Man was Ex-Nazi Commander – 15 June 2013

New York Times – Minnesota Man, 94, is Investigated for Nazi Ties – 15 June 2013

USA Today – Shock Lingers after Nazi Unit Leader Found in Minnesota – 15 June 2013

Associated Press – AP Impact: Commander of Nazi-Led Unit Lives in US – 14 June 2013

International Business Times – Minnesota Nazi: Michael Karkoc, 94-Year-Old Former Nazi-SS Commander, Found Living in Minneapolis – 14 June 2013

The Telegraph – Commander in Nazi SS-Led Unit Linked to Atrocities ‘Found Living in Minnesota’ – 14 June 2013

U.S. Concludes Assad Used Chemical Weapons Against Rebels

By Thomas Murphy
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

DAMASCUS, Syria – The Obama administration has confirmed that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons against the rebel opposition. The administration also acknowledged that Syria has crossed the “red line”, commonly referred to by President Obama, that would trigger more significant U.S. involvement in the conflict.

U.S. intelligence analysts have determined that chemical weapons have been used against Syrian rebels on a small scale several times. (Photo Courtesy of Reuters)

American intelligence analysts used physical evidence to conclusively determine that the Assad regime attacked Syrian rebels with the nerve agent sarin. According to a C.I.A. report, hair, blood, and urine samples of two Syrian rebels, one dead and one wounded, tested positive for the toxin after being involved in firefight northeast of Damascus in mid-March.

Deputy National Security Adviser for Strategic Communication Ben Rhodes addressed the media regarding the conclusion.

“Following a deliberative review, our intelligence community assesses that the Assad regime has used chemical weapons, including the nerve agent sarin, on a small scale against the opposition multiple times in the last year,” Rhodes, said in a statement released by the White House on Thursday afternoon. “Our intelligence community has high confidence in that assessment given multiple, independent streams of information.”

“The president has made a decision about providing more support to the opposition that will involve providing direct support to the Supreme Military Council. That includes military support,” said Rhodes.

Despite acknowledging the U.S. will provide the rebels increased support, the level of support remains unclear. However, President Obama has recently come under fire for approaching the conflict cautiously and this news will undoubtedly lead to more calls for action.

Sen. John McCain, who has been highly critical of the president’s Syria policy, urged the president to implement a no-fly zone and provide the rebels with anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons. However, McCain was pleased that the administration’s acknowledged the Syrian government’s use of chemical weapons, but still he pushed for further action.

“I thank the president for acknowledging that Syrians are using chemical weapons,” McCain said. “Just to provide additional weapons to the Syrian National Army is not enough. We have got to change the equation on the battleground.”

Earlier this week former President Bill Clinton agreed with Senator McCain. Clinton said, “Sometimes it’s best to get caught trying, as long as you don’t overcommit.”

“Some people say, ‘O.K., see what a big mess this is? Stay out!’” Mr. Clinton said. “I think that’s a big mistake.”

President Obama will attend a G-8 meeting next week in Northern Ireland, where the conflict in Syria is expected to be one of the main talking points. Russia, also a G-8 member country, has supported the Syrian government throughout the conflict.

For further information, please see:

Al Arabiya – Obama decides to arm Syrian rebels after chemical weapons proof – 13 June 2013

CBS – U.S.: Syria used chemical weapons, crossing “red line” – 13 June 2013

CNN – White House: Syria crosses ‘red line’ with use of chemical weapons on its people – 13 June 2013

New York Times – Syria Has Used Chemical Arms on Rebels, U.S. and Allies Find – 13 June 2013

USA Today – U.S. has determined Syria used chemical weapons – 13 June 2013