Iraqi forces were told to cooperate with their Turkish counterparts during a 1980s campaign against Kurdish civilians, according to evidence presented on Thursday to a court trying Saddam Hussein.
Prosecutors seeking to prove that the ousted Iraqi dictator ordered the slaughter of 182 000 Kurdish civilians in the 1988 Anfal campaign produced a series of Iraqi military documents during the day’s hearing.
One sent to the commanders of the 1st and 5th Corps of the Iraqi Army on August 21 1988 ordered them to carry out ”heavy special strikes before starting the project to create a condition of panic among the citizens”.
Prosecutors have previously said that the term ”special strikes” in Iraqi documents refers to the use of chemical weapons such as mustard gas or sarin.
The document, signed by Iraqi chief of staff Nazar Abdul Kareem Faisal, insisted: ”There must be full destruction of saboteurs in the northern area.”
And, in a revelation likely to stir anger among Kurdish survivors, the memo orders the Iraqi officers ”to cooperate with the Turkish side, according to the cooperation protocol with them to chase all the refugees”.
No detail was given of the alleged agreement between Turkey and Iraq.
Ankara has long opposed the idea of an independent Kurdish homeland in northern Iraq, but it has never been proved that Turkey cooperated with Saddam’s forces during Anfal, which prosecutors describe as a genocide.
While the document touching on Turkish links to the case was read out sound was cut off to trial reporters and no discussion of the memo could be heard.
”We will now cut the microphones because this concerns Iraqi-Turkish relations,” said chief prosecutor Munqith al-Faroon, although the Arabic language document could still be read on the court screens.
Saddam and six co-defendants are accused of killing 182 000 Kurds between 1987 and 1988 when government troops allegedly suppressed a Kurdish uprising by using artillery, air strikes, death camps and poison gas attacks. — AFP
