Report: Turkey kills Kurdish fighters using chemical weapons

German experts have confirmed the authenticity of photos showing that the Kurdish rebels of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) were killed by chemical weapons used by Turkey, some sources reported citing the German Der Spiegel edition. After this confirmation, the German politicians claimed an international investigation into the incident in which Turkey had used chemical weapons against the Kurdish fighters.

In particularly, a series of photos were given to the world showing naked bodies which can even hardly be identified as men’s bodies, says Der Spiegel. Human rights activists say that these are bodies of eight Kurdish rebels killed in September of 2009. The images were handed over to German delegation by Kurdish activists in March. The Der Spiegel published an article about the photos in late July, and now Hans Baumann, a German expert on forged photographs, was able to confirm the photos’ authenticity, Der Spiegel reported. It also quoted the statement of experts from the Hamburg University Hospital who said that “it was very likely the eight Kurds died due to the use of chemical substances.”

German politicians are now demanding on immediate international investigation into the incident of using of chemical weapons by Turkish military against Kurdish fighters.

Meanwhile, Ankara is still keeping silence and denies commenting anything. The Der Spiegel reported that Turkish authorities have been labeling such kind of accusations as “Kurdish-made propaganda.”

This incident about Turkey’s using of non-conventional weapons against Kurdish fighters can strongly affect Turkey's accession process to the EU and can even question Turkey’s membership in NATO, Der Spiegel said.