Die-in: Anti-chemical weapons protest at OSCE headquarters

Activists from the Defend Kurdistan campaign held a die-in protest at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) headquarters in Vienna on Wednesday against the OSCE not taking action in light of allegations of chemical weapon use by member state Turkey.

The group, wearing white protective suits and gas masks, demanded OSCE Secretary General Helga Maria Schmid make a statement on the matter, and said in a press release that they hold OSCE responsible.

“The OSCE supposedly stands for security. One aspect of security would the guaranteed exclusion of chemical weapon use in acts of war. This is precisely what the OSCE should be doing – initiating investigations and breaking its silence,” Soghomon Tehlirian of the Defend Kurdistan campaign said.

An independent investigation into allegations against Turkey is “more urgent than ever”, the group said, joining calls by the chief of Turkey’s top medical organisation Şebnem Korur Fincancı who was arrested over her calls, and the International Physicians for the prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) who visited northern Iraq to hold an investigation but were not permitted by local authorities to conduct their study.