Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, on Wednesday during a joint press conference with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry in Moscow said any reports, particularly those documented ones, about rude and large scale human rights abuse and violations of international humanitarian law must be investigated. There are special international procedures for that.
Lavrov called on the international community to respond to the situation.
An RT crew visited Cizre in Turkey’s Sirnak province following reports of a brutal military crackdown on the civilian population in the area. It allegedly included slaughtering of hundreds of civilians trapped in basements. The reports which surfaced in February stated that some 150 people were burned to death.
RT’s William Whiteman witnessed shocking scenes of destruction in the southeastern Turkish town, and collected horrifying accounts of an alleged massacre of Kurdish civilians there.
A report by a rights group also says more than 160 civilians, including 29 women, 32 children, and 24 elderly people, were killed from August to December last year in Turkey’s Kurdish areas.
However, Turkey has claimed it will continue its operations against Kurdish militia, saying its aim is “to ensure peace in the region.”
The US State Department said it has “certainly acknowledged Turkey’s right to defend itself against terrorists,” referring to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the militant group leading a guerrilla war against Turkey, but added that Ankara must “do so in accordance with international law and obligations that they have.”
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