The president of the Turkish Doctors’ Association, Sebnem Korur Fincanci, has been arrested after calling for an investigation into the possible use of chemical weapons by the Turkish Army in one of its latest operations against the armed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) group, designated by Ankara as a terrorist organization.
The incident was made public ten days ago by the Kurdish media, which released a video in which Turkish soldiers appear to use a chemical substance to flush out several PKK militiamen in the province of Duhok, in Iraqi Kurdistan, the scene since April of a new Turkish military campaign in the long history of clashes between the country and this organization.
Fincanci declared on October 20 to the Kurdish media Medya Haber that the images «reveal the possible use of chemical gases that would directly affect the nervous system» and requested an independent investigation on the matter.
That same day, the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office opened an investigation against Fincanci, who was finally arrested last Thursday on charges of «carrying out propaganda for a terrorist organization», according to the official Turkish news agency Anatolia.
The Turkish authorities claim that the media that interviewed the president of the association had links with the PKK, an aspect that the accused claimed to be unaware of during her previous appearance in court.
