A petition by Investigate War Crimes

We have received information and assessments from official and reputable sources, including international human rights organizations and monitoring bodies, raising serious concerns about actions taken by the Turkish government under the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. These sources indicate alleged ongoing serious violations against civilian populations.
We therefore call for an independent international investigation into alleged crimes committed under the Erdoğan administration.

This petition is a collaborative initiative by Kurdish and Armenian communities, both of whom have endured repression, displacement, and violence. As of early 2026, Kurds and Armenians are also cooperating in Rojava, where they face continued threats from armed militias reportedly backed by Turkey, underscoring the urgency of international accountability.

For more than a decade, Kurdish and Armenian civilians have faced sustained repression, violence, and displacement through state policies and military actions that target civilian life, suppress identity, and undermine fundamental rights. These harms are ongoing across Turkey and Kurdish regions.

Entire communities have been displaced, civilian infrastructure damaged or destroyed, cultural and religious heritage erased, and peaceful political activity criminalized, leaving affected populations without effective domestic remedy.

We are members of affected communities, descendants of survivors, and allies who refuse to remain silent in the face of ongoing injustice.

 
Documented Actions and Patterns of Abuse
Under the government led by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, independent journalists, international observers, and human rights organizations — including groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch — have documented and reported patterns of state conduct affecting Kurdish and Armenian communities, including:

1. Repression of Armenian communities, including restrictions on public discourse, intimidation of journalists, activists, and community representatives, and the ongoing destruction, neglect, or seizure of Armenian cultural and religious heritage sites. Armenian identity, memory, and historical presence are systematically suppressed through policy and practice.
2. Military operations and repeated cross-border actions targeting Kurdish regions within the borders of Turkey, Syria, and Iraq, impacting civilian infrastructure such as water systems, electricity networks, and medical facilities, and resulting in civilian casualties, forced displacement, humanitarian crises, and long-term regional instability. Reported examples include large-scale security operations in Amed, as well as operations in other Kurdish-majority areas, which have led to widespread destruction of neighborhoods and forced many Kurdish families to leave their homes.
3. Credible reporting indicating state tolerance, facilitation, or indirect support for Islamist terrorist organizations allegedly backed by Turkey, particularly in contexts where such groups have carried out violence against Kurdish civilian populations in Syria and Iraq, contributing to mass displacement and prolonged conflict.
4. Political, military, and logistical support for the Azerbaijani government during armed conflict affecting Armenian populations, contributing to civilian displacement and damage to Armenian cultural and religious heritage.
5. Widespread detention, prosecution, and removal of Kurdish political representatives and civil society figures, including politicians, journalists, lawyers, academics, human rights defenders, and democratically elected local officials, frequently under broadly defined anti-terrorism legislation. These practices, including the replacement of elected officials with state-appointed trustees, undermine peaceful political expression, local self-governance, and democratic representation.

Taken together, these actions reflect a persistent and ongoing pattern of repression, collective punishment, and cultural erasure directed at Kurdish and Armenian communities.

 
Our Demands
We call on international institutions, democratic governments, and human rights mechanisms to:

Support independent international investigations into alleged violations affecting Kurdish and Armenian civilians
Ensure preservation of evidence and protection of witnesses
Facilitate international monitoring and humanitarian access where needed
Support pathways to legal accountability in accordance with international law
 
Our Objective
The signatures collected through this petition will be submitted to relevant international human rights and legal bodies, including the International Criminal Court, to support requests for independent investigation and legal review of alleged crimes and serious violations committed under the Erdoğan administration.

This petition does not seek to replace judicial processes, but to support them through public documentation, international attention, and lawful accountability mechanisms.

By signing this petition, you stand in solidarity with Kurdish and Armenian communities and affirm that human rights violations must be investigated, documented, and addressed through lawful international processes.

 
You can support this case by:
Signing the petition
Sharing it with at least three people
Sending it to at least one journalist
Posting it in at least one group chat
 
This petition was initiated collaboratively by Arina Jafar and Saya Zahawi.

Disclaimer
This petition is intended to raise public awareness and to request independent international investigation by appropriate legal and human rights institutions. The statements herein reflect reported allegations and documented concerns drawn from publicly available sources. The petitioners do not make definitive legal determinations of guilt. All alleged violations are subject to investigation, due process, and independent judicial review in accordance with international law.

 

Sources:

• Amnesty International on displacement and curfews in Kurdish-majority Southeast Turkey: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2016/11/turkey-mass-curfews-displacement-in-southeast/
  
• Amnesty International on restrictions of free expression and prosecution of journalists and activists: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur44/5362/2022/en/
  
• Human Rights Watch on violence and forced displacement in southeastern Turkey: https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/10/13/turkey-violence-displacement-southeast
  
• Human Rights Watch on counterterror laws and repression of civil society: https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2024/country-chapters/turkiye
  
• Amnesty International on threats to Armenian cultural heritage in conflict zones: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/10/armenia-threatened-cultural-heritage/
  
• Reuters on the impact of security operations on civilians in Amed: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-turkey-security-kurdish-idUSKBN1CP0BB
  
• Associated Press on civilian displacement in Kurdish areas: https://apnews.com/article/europe-middle-east-turkey-kurds-displacement-e8f9f69f5abf23f84ed45100d2df6c88
  
• BBC News on Turkish involvement related to Azerbaijani operations affecting Armenian populations: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-54419285