About
The Permanent People’s Tribunal was founded in Bologna in 1979 as a forum for hearing complaints against countries that do not subscribe to (and therefore fall under the jurisdiction of) human rights conventions such as the Rome Statue and International Criminal Court. In 2018, a panel was formed consisting of seven esteemed judges from various European nations, who were convened by The European Association of Lawyers for Democracy and World Human Rights and other legal institutions for a two-day hearing on Turkey and the Kurds. It took testimony on 15-16 March in Paris about two specific charges against Turkey: that during the period of 1 June 2015 to 31 January 2017 it committed war crimes against the Kurdish people, by bombing, bulldozing and indiscriminately shooting at the population in several towns in Southeast Turkey including Diyarbakir; and that it facilitated common crimes such as bomb attacks, targeted assassinations, and kidnappings, both on Turkish soil and abroad, including the murder in 2013 of three Kurdish women living and working in Paris.
Key Documents
Below are key documents from the hearing of the 2018 Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal session on Turkey and the Kurds: