Uludere survivor fined for smuggling

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet

Photo taken during a commemoration protest in the eastern province of Van for Uludere victims. DHA photo / OSMAN BEKLEYEN

A survivor of a botched raid by the Turkish Air Forces last year in Uludere has been fined 2,000 Turkish Liras for smuggling.

Four villagers, including Servet Encü, who survived the Uludere airstrike that killed 34 people, were fined 2,000 liras after media reports showed the villagers smuggling on the border.

Gendarmerie officers questioned the villagers – Servet Encü, Şeyhmus Encü, İdris Encü and Adem Yürek – after examining videos and pictures recently released in media reports showing the alleged smuggling. The four villagers were fined for violating the passport law, crossing borders with illegal methods and bringing smuggled goods into the country across the border.

Thirty-four civilian Kurdish villagers were killed in an airstrike on Dec. 28, 2011, when they were allegedly mistaken for PKK militants as they smuggled oil from northern Iraq into Turkey. The victims’ families were paid 123,000 liras for each casualty; however the families have not withdrawn the money from their bank accounts, demanding fair prosecution instead.