False intelligence reports responsible of Uludere massacre: Report

ISTANBUL

Relatives hold the pictures of 34 people killed in an airstrike in Uludere. DHA photo

The Uludere/Roboski massacre, in which 34 people were killed at the border with Iraq by a Turkish jet airstrike, was allegedly caused by false information given by Turkish intelligence, daily Taraf claimed yesterday.

Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MİT) has allegedly sent written several reports to the Turkish Armed Forces, claiming members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) would enter Turkey from Northern Iraq and organize attacks, according to the daily Taraf. The daily claimed some reports sent to the MİT and to the army in November and December 2011 claimed the PKK will attempt to send its militants to Turkey from the border. The second report allegedly claimed Bahoz Erdal, a senior PKK leader, would enter Turkey.

The daily further claimed a senior MİT official called the Turkish Armed Forces by phone on the day the Uludere massacre took place and said Bahoz Erdal was passing through the border into Turkey. 

The air strikes carried out near the Turkish-Iraqi border in the village of Uludere in the Şırnak district on Dec. 28, 2011 cost the lives of 34 civilians from the Ortasu (Roboski in Kurdish) village. 

The victims were allegedly mistaken for PKK militants while they were smuggling goods into Turkey. 

The military prosecutors ruling over the case detailed the decision-making process, revealing all the top brass, including the Chief of General Staff, approved the strikes.