Panel approves Uludere report despite opposition’s objection

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

In Uludere, 34 villagers were killed in Turkish military’s airstrike in 2011. AA photo

Parliament’s Human Rights Examination Commission has approved a report drafted by a subcommission assigned to examine the controversy surrounding the Uludere tragedy by a majority vote despite severe objections from all three opposition parties.

The commission could do a “historic job” if it rejected the report, Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) deputy Ertuğrul Kürkçü said yesterday.

“If the commission behaves sagaciously and rejects this report, it will do a historic job. If the heartbreak of Roboski [Uludere] villagers can be remedied by rejection of this report, it would be a great contribution to this recent reconciliation and peace process,” Kürkçü said. Another BDP deputy, Sırrı Sakık, said the report did not correspond to the government’s recently launched peace process. “Would an apology for this incident be too much?”

The Uludere incident refers to the death of 34 civilian villagers in an air strike on Dec. 28, 2011, near the Turkish-Iraqi border when they were allegedly mistaken for outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants as they smuggled goods from northern Iraq into Turkey. Subcommission chair and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) deputy İhsan Şener defended the report, which found no evidence of intentional attack. He said they could only examine the incident within the framework of human rights, and they do not act as a court. Mercan Encü, whose son was among the victims, said they would never accept the commission’s report.