In late August, a Turkish military drone operator looks at the live feed on his screen to focus on the next target, locking in on a moving passenger vehicle in Iraqi Kurdistan, hundreds of kilometers away from where he sits in a control room.
In that vehicle, Akam*, a journalist in his early 30s, is driving out to the countryside to have a picnic with some colleagues and friends, two of whom are in the back seat, and another five in a vehicle driving ahead of them.
Back at the Turkish military base, the drone operator locks in on Akam’s car and presses the fire button. The drone missile strikes the rear of the vehicle and explodes. Somehow, Akam is able to unfasten his seatbelt and extricate himself from the car. He finds himself unable to walk but drags himself to the side of the road, away from the vehicle now engulfed in flames. His two friends do not escape and die as a result of the attack.
A month later, CPT IK members are in Akam’s family home to speak to him about his experience. Akam sits on a couch and cannot walk due to his injuries. He has limited movement of his left arm and hand. As bad as his physical injuries may be, the psychological ones he now lives with. “I have a phobia of being in cars now. I don’t want to leave the city or even my house. I have nightmares.”
There is a Canadian connection to Akam’s terrible experience: Turkish drones are equipped with highly sophisticated Canadian-made optical targeting equipment manufactured near Hamilton, Ontario. Canadian government arms export laws and international arms trade treaties it has signed are supposed to prohibit the selling of military hardware to governments that use it to violate human rights.
But, notwithstanding a period from 2020- 2023 when Canada did block the selling of these sensors to Turkey (unrelated to Turkey’s military campaign against Iraqi Kurds), Project Ploughshares, a Canadian arms-monitoring organization, indicates that the parent company, L3Harris, is once again exporting to Turkey for use in their deadly military drones.
Armaments and equipment used to wage war are becoming ever more powerful, sophisticated, and deadly. Many of these arms come from Western countries such as the U.S., Canada, and EU countries, countries that have policies on paper to prevent arms from being used by countries with known human rights abuse records. In practice, the lure of deep profits and political considerations too often trumps safeguards, as is the case with Canada and Turkey.
When Akam is told about the Canadian connection to the drone that nearly took his life, he is silent for a moment. Finally, he says, “this must stop.”
Pray that Canada and other countries exporting military equipment to Turkey will follow their policies and end these arms sales so that human rights violations will cease. Pray that military economies will be transformed into economies that serve people. Pray that swords will be turned into ploughshares. Pray that killer drones will be turned into hospitals and schools. Pray for strength and recovery for Akam, so that his nightmares will stop and that he will walk again.
*Akam is a pseudonym being used to protect his safety and identity.
