HL Deb 06 June 1994 vol 555 c70WA
Lord Avebury

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether satellite imaging technology is capable of identifying explosions caused by tombs and shells, and whether they will ask the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration to make available to the states of the Conference on Co-operation and Security in Europe, and to interested non-governmental organisations, any information they have from satellites of military operations now being conducted by the Turkish armed forces against villages and towns of the Kurdish region of Turkey.

Viscount Cranborne

Satellite imagery can be used to assess damage which has been caused by a variety of means; the precision of these assessments depends on the extent of the damage and the quality of the imagery. The distribution of material collected by American government satellites is a matter for the US authorities.