'Cluster Gas Capsules are Chemical Weapons and Should be Banned'

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At the commemoration event in İstanbul's Kadıköy on the fourth anniversary of the Suruç Massacre, many people, including MPs from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) were wounded during the police intervention.

The police reportedly used rubber bullets, wounding HDP İstanbul MP Erol Katırcıoğlu from the stomach, HDP Muş MP Gülistan Koçyiğit and CHP İstanbul MP Ali Şeker in the leg.

MPs Wounded in Police Intervention Against Suruç Massacre Commemoration in Kadıköy

After the reports, Kadıköy District Governorship said in a statement that they do not have rubber bullets in their inventory, though it did not provide information on how the politicians were wounded.

"It wasn't rubber bullets that were used in the intervention, but gas capsules used like rubber bullets. They don't use this on the purpose of spreading gas but as a weapon. We were wounded from them. Them not using rubber bullets don't remove the fact that we were wounded," Dr. Şeker told bianet.

Osman Öztürk, the Secretary-General of the İstanbul Chamber of Physicians, said, "If we accept the statement by the district governorship as true, then it is understood that these wounds happen by the use of gas canisters directly as bullets.

"These canisters are chemical weapons anyway and they should be totally banned. If there is an obligation to use them, they shouldn't be fired in a way to wound people, but from a long distance."

Saying that instructions of these weapons say they should be used from a distance, Öztürk noted, "We have all along witnessed that these weapons are used like rubber bullets with their mechanic effect being made use of. This can cause serious injuries and even death, considering the shooting range. It can even cause organ losses

"We experienced this during the Gezi Park resistance. There were people losing their eyes. This is why they are very dangerous. They should be banned and definitely not be used."

Şebnem Korur Fincancı, the chairperson of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey, also said that gas canisters are chemical weapons.

"There are chemicals in liquid and gas form in these capsules. The general characteristic of these is that they are frangible. In other words, they are expected to break easily to spread the gas and show the tear-inducing effect. But there are also types that are not easily broken," she said.

"In the Gezi period, I found the opportunity to examine the bombs that were collected from the streets and they were really like plastic, pretty hard. But I don't know if it was a manufacturing flow.

"It may be a manufacturing flaw as well. Because product descriptions say these are frangible. They can be fatal because there are chemicals in them and these chemicals can especially cause respiratory problems, along with heart problems." (RT/EKN/VK)