On the 26th of March, from 14:00-16:00 the final verdict of the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal 54th session on Rojava vs. Turkey will be shared in a special event convened in the European Parliament in Brussels.
This verdict comes at a crucial and truly historical moment, when significant steps have been taken towards peace and a political solution to the Kurdish question in Northeastern Syria and in Turkey. The question of justice, and of accountability for the perpetrators of crimes against Kurds and other peoples of the region is crucial for creating a stable foundation on which democratic self-governance can be built in the region.
The Permanent Peoples Tribunal: Rojava vs. Turkey
The Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal (PPT) is an international human organizations founded in 1979 in Bologna, Italy with the aim of condemning Latin American dictatorships. Its work is based on the principles of the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Peoples, proclaimed in Algiers in 1976, and on the main international instruments protecting human rights. The PPT aims to encourage action in judicial courts based on intergovernmental treaties, such as the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice.
The 54th session of the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal met in Brussels, Belgium on the 5-6th of February 2024 to investigate alleged Turkish war crimes in Northeastern Syria. The judges were presented with evidence of forced displacement, mass killings, attacks against civilian populations, gender-based violence, ecological destruction, and other forms of violence by Turkish state and Turkish state-backed forces in Northeastern Syria (Rojava) against civilian populations.
The tribunal’s preliminary statement states:
“Turkey’s attacks on Syrian territory, without UN Security Council authorisation, amounts to an international crime of aggression. The pattern of attacks, bombings, shellings, drone attacks and atrocities against civilians, the forced displacements and demographic engineering through replacement of populations, the destruction of power and damage to water supplies, the environmental damage, the destruction of cultural heritage and educational institutions, the use of rape, torture, secret detention – are all contrary to international law, constitute crimes against humanity and war crimes, and are indicative of genocide.”
Regarding the obligations of the international community, the statement goes further, arguing that it is vital that the experience of the Kurds of north and east Syria and the crimes against them are properly acknowledged, that those responsible are brought to justice, that the Autonomous Administration of Northeastern Syria (DAANES) is internationally recognised as an authentically representative and democratic self-governing administration, and that the international community immediately ensures the cessation of the attacks by Turkey, direct and indirect, on the Kurdish people of Rojava, in order to avert a fully-fledged genocide.”
Why the tribunal is important
In the last months, significant steps have been taken towards ending attacks by the Turkish state against Rojava, and a peaceful solution to the Kurdish Question. Since the fall of the Assad Regime, DAANES has played an active role in proposing how to develop democratic governance in Syria, in full recognition and respect of the ethnic, religious, and cultural diversity in the country. The fundamental issue of women’s rights and freedom, has been taken up by the Syrian Women’s Council, Kongra-Star and other such initiatives, that stress that women’s freedom and participation in all parts of political and social life must be a defining characteristic of any system of governance to come. A preliminary agreement signed between SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces) General Mazlum Abdi and Interim President Al-Shaara declared a nation-wide ceasefire, the rights of Syrians to participate in political processes regardless of ethnicity or religion, and the rights of those forcibly displaced to return to their homes.
On the 27th of February, Kurdish leader and political Prisoner Abdullah Öcalan voiced a call for “Peace and a Democratic Society”, calling the resolution to the century-old Kurdish question in Turkey through political and democratic means. Statements of support for Mr. Öcalan’s call have since been made by international actors including the UN Secretary General, national governments, political parties, unions, and activist and civil society organizations. While this move has been heralded as the beginning of a new era for democratic politics in the Middle East, started through Mr. Öcalan’s initiative, it now remains to be seen how the Turkish state will respond to this call.
While these recent events mark significant steps forward, there is still a long way to go. The Turkish state has continued with its attacks on Northeast Syria, most recently killing seven people in a drone strike near Kobane. Although positive steps have been made on topics of politics and governance within the region, the question of justice, and accountability for perpetrators remains a central factor—and crucial in fact for the development of democratic politics in the future. For a just, lasting peace is to be found, and democratic governance for all of the peoples of Syria established, accountability and justice for crimes committed against the peoples of the region—which may in fact constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity—marks an important step in healing societal wounds, and in creating a stable foundation on which to build a bright future for all peoples of the region.