ANF, Ankara — The families of the 34 Kurdish civilians killed in the bombing of the village of Roboski (Uludere/Şırnak) by Turkish warplanes, on 28 December 2011, spoke to ANF about the non-progress of the investigation 13 months after the massacre.
The Roboski families criticize the Parliamentary Uludere Sub-Commission, which was established to shed light on the massacre, for not releasing its report because of the pressure from the AKP government. Families say they don’t expect the Commission to present an unbiased report on the massacre.
Ferhat Encü, who lost a brother and many other relatives in the massacre, said the Parliamentary Commission for Uludere was established in order to ease the public reaction against the incident, not to shed light on the massacre and to expose the perpetrators. “The statements on behalf of the Commission reveal the fact that it aims to show the massacre was the result of an unfortunate “coordinatio mistake”. The Chief of Defence, Interior Minister and the Prime Minister are also making statements on this line. The report will apparently come to the same conclusion as well”.
Referring to PM Erdoğan’s description of the victims as members of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) and not civilians, Encü said; “Nobody has the right to link those 34 people to an organization and to show this massacre as legitimate, even if they were all PKK members”. Remarking that the government is still refraining from releasing the Commission’s report because of the public sensitivity towards the massacre, Encü added that they will continue to struggle in different platforms for the enlightenement of the massacre as the government and other relevant authorities are still looking for an evidence to legitimate the massacre.
Veli Encü, who also lost many relatives in the massacre, said it was obvious that the massacre had been carried out by the Turkish state. “In the day of the incident, military officials flew over us with helicopters and treated us like enemies while we were carrying the bodies on donkeys. When we look at the treatment we are facing today, we see that nothing has changed in their approach towards us in these 13 months”.
Encü remarked that the Uludere Commission was established to deceive the people, and that all government authorities are doing is to incriminate the victims. “Following the talks with the families of victims after the incident, the President of the Commission promised us to shed light on the massacre. However, they are still trying to delay the release of the report with an intention to cover up the mass killing. This is becuase PM Erdoğan has a part in the massacre”.
Firat News Agency
(en.firatajans.com)