Iran-Iraq War: The Employment of Chemical Weapons

Year 2022, Volume: 6 Issue: 1, 105 - 133, 30.06.2022

Secil Ozdemir

https://doi.org/10.33201/iranian.1084350

Abstract

The use of chemical weapons as a method of warfare can be traced back to the earliest dates of human history. However, modern historians accept that chemical substances have been used as weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) since the early twentieth century. Although the first convention which banned the use of chemicals as a tool of warfare was the Strasbourg Agreement in 1675, chemical weapons (CWs) were used on a mass scale in the First World War and repeatedly thereafter. The Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s was an experiment in the use of CWs and it was during this war that CWs started to be used as conventional weapons of war. In this study, examples of chemical attacks during the Iran-Iraq War are discussed. The development of CWs such as the armaments deployed in the Middle East cannot be isolated from international politics, and should therefore not be studied without taking the major world powers into consideration. Therefore, attitudes of the US, the UK, France, Israel, Germany, Italy, and Russia, none of which were participants in this war, are also to be examined. In order to create the chronological and informational groundwork of this study, a literature review was conducted and printed works were used. US national intelligence reports and diplomatic correspondence were examined. The media during the period, statements by politicians, United Nations Security Council reports, and the memories of witnesses exposed to chemical attacks during the war are included to advance the study.

Keywords

Middle East, Iran-Iraq War, Weapons of Mass Destruction, Chemical Weapons, Halabja

Supporting Institution

TUBITAK

Thanks

The author acknowledges the support received from TÜBİTAK under grant 2219.

İran-Irak Savaşı: Kimyasal Silahların Kullanımı

Abstract

Kimyasal silahların bir savaş yöntemi olarak kullanılması, insanlık tarihinin ilk zamanlarına kadar tarihlendirilebilir. Kimyasal maddelerin yirminci yüzyılın başlarından itibaren kitle imha silahları (KİS) olarak kullanıldığı modern dönem tarihçileri tarafından kabul etmektedir. Kimyasalların bir savaş aracı olarak kullanılmasını yasaklayan ilk sözleşme, 1675 yılında imzalanan Strasburg Anlaşması olmasına rağmen bu silahlar Birinci Dünya Savaşı’nda kitlesel ölçekte ve sonrasında tekrar eden şekilde kullanılmıştır. 1980’li yıllarda İran-Irak Savaşı kimyasal silahların kullanımında bir deney süreci gibidir ve bu savaş sırasında kimyasal silahlar geleneksel savaş silahları olarak kullanılmaya başlamıştır. Bu çalışmada İran-Irak Savaşı sırasındaki kimyasal saldırı örnekleri ele alınmıştır. Ortadoğu’da konuşlandırılan silahlar gibi kimyasal silahların gelişimi de uluslararası politikadan izole edilemez bu nedenle büyük dünya güçlerinin politikaları dikkate alınarak bu süreci incelemek gerekmektedir. Bu çalışmada İran-Irak Savaşı’nın resmi olarak tarafı olmayan ABD, İngiltere (Büyük Britanya), Fransa, İsrail, Almanya, İtalya ve Rusya’nın kimyasal silah üretimi ve kullanımına yönelik tutumları da değerlendirilmiştir. Çalışmanın kronolojik ve bilgisel alt yapısını oluşturmak için literatür taraması yapılmış ve basılı eserlerden yararlanılmıştır. ABD Ulusal istihbarat raporları ve bazı diplomatik yazışmalar incelenmiş, dönem medyası, politikacıların açıklamaları ve Birleşmiş Milletler Güvenlik Konseyi raporları ile savaş sırasında kimyasal saldırılara maruz kalan tanıkların ifadelerine çalışmayı geliştirmek için yer verilmiştir.

Keywords

Orta Doğu, İran-Irak Savaşı, Kitle İmha Silahları, Kimyasal Silahlar, Halepçe

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