Families of Uludere victims ‘pleased to meet Turkish PM’

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Erdoğan (C) attends a fast-breaking dinner in Şırnak after an airport opening.

Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş has said that the families of Uludere massacre victims had been pleased to meet with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan during a fast-breaking dinner July 26 in the southeastern province of Şırnak, Cihan news agency reported.

Six relatives of the villagers killed in the air strike attended the fast-breaking dinner, held on the apron of a new airport named after Şerafettin Elçi.

“Families from Roboski [Uludere] met and conveyed their demands to the prime minister, who held the political position with the primary responsibility when the massacre took place. The families are pleased that the meeting took place. They say the meeting went well,” Demirtaş told reporters before attending his party’s congress in Istanbul on July 28.

On Dec. 28, 2011, 34 civilian villagers were killed in the air strike near the Turkish-Iraqi border in the Uludere district of Şırnak, allegedly mistaken for outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants as they smuggled goods from northern Iraq into Turkey.
“But now the prime minister and the government have to take a concrete step to clear up the Roboski massacre and those responsible, as well as to ensure an apology,” said Demirtaş.

PM knows who gave instructions: Demirtaş

The prime minister told the families during the meeting that he was not the one who had ordered the strike, Demirtaş said, adding that the prime minister’s statement meant that he knew who gave the instructions. “A just proceeding will reveal who gave the orders for the strike. If he says so, then they must pave the way for the proceeding. [His statements] mean that he knows who gave the orders,” said Demirtaş.

After meeting with Erdoğan, some families reportedly quoted Erdoğan as telling them that he had not given the orders for the strike in the Uludere incident.

“We were satisfied with the meeting. Hopefully the prime minister can solve the problem. We did not talk about compensation, we only requested that the perpetrators be found,” Zeki Tosun, who lost his son during the attack, told reporters after the meeting.