Uludere report on its way despite objections

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

34 villagers who were smuggling oil from Iraq were killed in a botched air raid by Turkish jets on Dec 28, 2011. AFP photo

A sub-commission of Parliament’s Human Rights Inquiry Commission decided yesterday to begin drafting its report on the Uludere incident, despite objections from main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) deputies, who say the Commission should have listened to more people before drafting of the report.

The Uludere incident refers to the tragedy in which 34 civilian Kurdish villagers who were smuggling oil from Iraq were mistakenly killed in an air raid by Turkish jets on Dec. 28, 2011, in the Uludere district of the southeastern province of Şırnak.

A sub-commission was formed in January 2012 to examine the incident, which requested information and documents from the General Staff, the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) and the ministries of defense, interior and justice, while also conducting visits to the region. Yet, although 10 months have passed since the incident, the sub-commission has not been able to get any concrete findings on which institution was the first to order the bombing.

No responsible named
Under these conditions, parties represented at the Commission - the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), the CHP, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and the BDP - will finalize their draft reports by Nov. 7. The commission will then gather on Nov. 14 and begin drafting the report.

The report will eventually be drafted with the votes of AKP deputies, and no civilian and military official or politician will be named as being responsible for the order, the Hürriyet Daily News learned. Because no names will be cited, the report will not contain any demands for the investigation or trial of any specific individuals. The report will simply describe the incident in detail and will express the desire not to see any repetition of any similar events.

No new document has been sent to the commission since June, when the Commission held its last meeting. CHP and BDP deputies argue that drafting a report without speaking to any senior commanders from the General Staff headquarters would be wrong, as the Commission only talked with local military officials in Şırnak.

“We object to the drafting of a report that simply explains this incident. Let’s listen to other people who should be listened to,” the CHP’s Levent Gök said. The BDP’s Ertuğrul Kürkçü said that in this way the report would be “deficient” if conducted in the method planned. “It is not possible for us to accept this,” he said.