Community Groups ask Congressional Leaders to Press for Administration Investigation of Use of U.S. Arms in Attack that Killed 35 Kurdish Boys and Young Men
Kurdish American, Hellenic American, and Armenian American leaders joined together on Jan. 10 to call upon key Congressional leaders to demand that the Obama Administration investigate whether Turkey violated U.S. arms export laws by using American-supplied weaponry in a Dec. 28, 2011 airstrike that killed 35 Kurdish boys and young men along the Turkey-Iraq border.
deaths turkey 300×225 Kurdish, Greek, and Armenian Americans Call for Inquiry into Turkish Airstrike.
In a Jan. 10 letter addressed to the bi-partisan leaderships of the Congressional committees overseeing the State Department and Pentagon, the American Hellenic Institute, the American Kurdish Information Network, the Armenian National Committee of America, the Kurdish Human Rights Watch, and the Kurdish National Congress of North America called upon the eight chairpersons and ranking members of these panels to request that the Obama Administration officially investigate the potential violation of U.S. law.
In their joint letter, the signatories noted that “press accounts, in the Associated Press, Economist, Boston Globe, Radio Free Europe, and elsewhere, have reported that this attack was conducted by U.S.-supplied F-16s, guided by aerial drone intelligence.”
The full text of the letter is provided below.
Dear Senators Kerry, Lugar, Levin, and McCain, and Representatives Ros-Lehtinen, Berman, McKeon and Smith:
We are writing to ask you—as the legislators with primary oversight responsibility for the Department of State and the Pentagon—to call upon the Obama Administration to investigate and publicly report to Congress regarding Turkey’s compliance with the Arms Export Control Act of 1976 and other relevant U.S. laws, in regard to the Dec. 28, 2011 Turkish airstrike that killed as many as 35 innocent Kurdish boys and young men along Turkey’s border with the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq.
As you have likely seen, press accounts, in the Associated Press, Economist, Boston Globe, Radio Free Europe, and elsewhere, have reported that this attack was conducted by U.S.-supplied F-16s, guided by aerial drone intelligence. In light of these widely reported accounts indicating the possible use of U.S. arms—and in the context of both the horrendous human costs of this particular attack and the history of Turkey’s having long used its military arsenal against civilian populations—we call upon you to request that the Administration investigate this matter. We also ask that you request that the Administration submit an immediate public report to Congress on any potential violations of U.S. law in connection with these killings.
Thank you for your leadership on human rights and for all your service in government promoting U.S. interests and advancing American values in the international arena.
Sincerely,
Nick Larigakis
President, American Hellenic Institute
Kani Xulam
Executive Director, American Kurdish Information Network
Aram Hamparian
Executive Director, Armenian National Committee of America
Dr. Pary Karadaghi
President, Kurdish Human Rights Watch
Dr. Kamal Artin
President, Kurdish National Congress of North America
