PM’s wife visits Uludere, meets victims' families

ŞIRNAK - Doğan News Agency

AA photo

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s wife Emine Erdoğan, together with family and state officials, has visited Uludere’s Ortasu village, where a military air raid killed 34 civilians in December 2011.

“We came here even though it is late, we cried together. We said that all of us were brothers and sisters and that no one could divide us. If mothers want it, peace can be established,” Emine Erdoğan said after her meeting with the relatives of the victims.

Erdoğan was accompanied by her daughter Sümeyye Erdoğan, Deputy Prime Minister Beşir Atalay and Family and Social Policies Minister Fatma Şahin. They came together with the families of the victims in the house of the village headman Haşim Enü, where prayers were made in both Kurdish and Turkish.
Following their visit, Deputy PM Beşir Atalay said they went to Uludere both to give their condolences and to listen to the families. 

“The legal and administrative investigations regarding the incident are ongoing. We are trying to shed light on every detail. Today we came together with those who lost their loved ones. Our meeting went vey well. The most urgent demand of our citizens is the opening of a border gate here. They also demanded a high school building. We will try to meet these demands,” Atalay said.

Thirty-four villagers were killed in a Turkish military air raid along the Iraqi border on the night of Dec. 28, 2011. Investigations into the incident continue.