UN Wants Ankara to Investigate Possible ‘War Crimes’ in Syria

The United Nations has urged Turkey to look into the reported execution of Kurdish militia personnel captured during its ongoing incursion in northeastern Syria, as well as the death of Hevrin Khalaf, a Kurdish politician whose vehicle was caught in an apparent ambush. All of the deaths were said to be at the hands of members of a Syrian militia backed by Ankara. “Turkey could be deemed responsible as a state for violations by their affiliated groups as long as Turkey exercises effective control of these groups or the operations in the course of which those violations occurred,” Rupert Colville, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday. “We urge Turkish authorities immediately to launch an impartial, transparent and independent investigation and to apprehend those responsible, some of whom should be easily identifiable from the video footage they themselves shared on social media.”