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BDP took Turkey's Roboski Kurdish massacre
to International Criminal Court ICC
27.1.2012 |
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International Criminal Court in the Hague,
Netherlands (photo 1)Locals gather in front of the bodies of people who
were killed in a Turkish warplane attack in the Ortasu
village of Uludere, in the Sirnak province [Turkey
Kurdistan], on December 29, 2011. Turkish warplanes
killed 23 Kurdish villagers in an air strike near
the Iraqi Kurdistan border, Photo: EPA.
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January
27, 2012
ANKARA, — The pro-Kurdish Peace and
Democracy Party (BDP) has taken the case of Roboski
massacre to the International Criminal Court.
BDP Commission of Law completed the file on the
slaughter of 34 Kurdish civilians by Turkish Armed
Forces (TSK) which bombed around Ortasu (Roboski)
village in the Uludere district of Şırnak in
Northern Kurdistan on December 28, 2011.
In the application, which includes photographs and
reports on the event, the BDP requested an
investigation into the massacre by ICC prosecutors.
BDP CP-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş on 24 January
stated that they had appealed to UN Human Rights
Council to investigate the Roboski massacre.
At a press conference in the Turkish Parliament on
Friday, the (BDP) group chairman Hasip Kaplan
explained the details of their appeal to
International Criminal Court for the investigation
on Roboski massacre. Remarking that the application
to ICC was signed by BDP Co-Chairs Gültan Kışanak
and Selahattin Demirtaş, Kaplan noted that the
Roboski massacre wouldn’t be left in the dark.
The appeal, in connection with the “confidentiality
decision” of Roboski case, voiced concerns about the
concealing of the event just like earlier massacres
which have been covered up so far, remarked Group
Chair Kaplan.
Kaplan expressed their concerns about the current
situation in Turkey which was the most convicted
country by the ECHR and fell to the 148th rank in
the list of freedom of expression in 2011. BDP Group
Chair also criticized Prime Minister’s attitude to
press members and remarked that the PM should speak
on the basis of judiciary’s decisions, not records
of the police organization.
Asked why BDP didn’t wait for the result of the
legal process on the massacre, Kaplan said the
followings; “We will apply to all ways in all areas
regarding crimes against humanity because the Prime
Minister is trying to cover up such a deep trouble
and the prosecutor writes down the report at random
and rules confidentiality on the case. The crimes
against humanity concern everyone, not only nations
themselves.”
The application by BDP requested an investigation
into the massacre by ICC prosecutors and said that;
“The mechanism of the Turkish state not only ignores
and denies the reality of the Kurdish people in
Turkey but also continuously violates the most basic
human rights in terms of the recognition of the
Kurdish identity and fulfillment of Kurdish people’s
social, economic and cultural rights.”
Putting emphasis on the possibility of
nonperformance of a real judgment by the government,
the application remarked that the government
prevented the revelation of the event by concealing
necessary information and documents from legal
authorities. The application in this respect pointed
to the statements of government officials who deny
any intentional act by security forces and promise
investigation in case of the discovery of
negligence.
Commenting the confidentiality verdict of Diyarbakir
Public Prosecution Office as the evidence of a
nontransparent investigation, the application
requested ICC to urge Turkish and Iraqi states to
conduct an expansive investigation into the
massacre.
Underlining that the operation in the village of
Roboski was carried out in opposition to
international agreements and conventions on human
rights, Geneva conventions and humanitarian law
norms that Turkey also accedes to, the application
remarked that the perpetrators of this massacre
could only be revealed by means of international
judgment mechanisms.
The application also consisted of statements made by
PM Erdoğan and TSK (Turkish Armed Forces) after
Roboski massacre and provided information about
earlier committed massacres in the villages of
Pınarcık, Silopi Derebaşı, Kuşkonar, Koçağalı and
Peyanis.
Survivors and witnesses of the deadly incident have
questioned the military's claim that they had
mistaken the civilians for PKK members,www.ekurd.net
saying the
attacks were intentional. Turkish government has
rejected the allegation.
Turkey's military command says it carried out the
airstrikes after a spy drone spotted a group moving
toward its sensitive southeastern border in darkness
in the night, in an area known to be used by PKK guerrillas.
Also, since August 17, 2011 Turkish jets repeatedly
carried out air strikes against the Kurdish PKK separatist
group's bases in
Iraqi Kurdistan region,
under justification of chasing elements of the
anti-Ankara PKK, forcing large numbers of Kurdish
citizens of those areas to desert their home
villages, including an air raid that
killed 7
Kurdish civilians in a village north
of Kurdistan’s Sulaimaniyah city on August 21, 2011.
Since it was established in 1984, the PKK has been
fighting the Turkish state, which still denies the
constitutional existence of Kurds, to establish a
Kurdish state in the south east of the country, sparking a conflict that has claimed some 45,000
lives.
But now its aim is the creation an autonomous
Kurdish region
and more cultural rights for ethnic Kurds who
constitute the greatest minority in Turkey, numbering more than 20 million. A large Turkey's
Kurdish community openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK rebels.
PKK's demands included releasing PKK detainees,
lifting the ban on education in Kurdish, paving the
way for an autonomous democrat Kurdish system within
Turkey, reducing pressure on the detained PKK leader
Abdullah Öcalan, stopping military action against
the Kurdish party and recomposing the Turkish
constitution.
Turkey refuses to recognize its Kurdish population
as a distinct minority. It has allowed some cultural
rights such as limited broadcasts in the Kurdish
language and private Kurdish language courses with
the prodding of the European Union, but Kurdish
politicians say the measures fall short of their
expectations.
The PKK is considered ass 'terrorist' organization by
Ankara, U.S., the PKK continues to be on the
blacklist list in EU despite court ruling which
overturned a decision
to place the Kurdish rebel group PKK and its
political wing on the European Union's terror list.
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