Şirnex – On December 28, 2011, Turkish fighter jets killed 34 people, mostly children, in the Roboski village of Şırnak’s Uludere district. A commemoration ceremony was held at the Roboski Martyrs' Cemetery to mark the 10^th anniversary of the Roboski Massacre. Families of killed 34 people, Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) MPs, members of the bar associations in the region, a delegation consisting of members of HDP provincial and district offices attended the ceremony. After the moment of silence, the participants unfurled a banner reading, “We don’t forget, we will not allow it to be forgotten”.

“You have to face up”

HDP Adana MP Tülay Hatimoğulları made a speech at the ceremony. Pointing out that the loss of 34 people was not only the loss of the Kurdish people and their families, she said:

“The history of Turkey is full of massacres. People were bombed but the Prime Minister of that time made statements as if nothing had happened. Children aged 12-13 had to cross the border with mules to earn a living. They were civilians and you killed civilians with fighter jets. You didn’t apologize. They were human beings like you and me but their dismembered bodies were wrapped in blankets and carried to the village by mules. Erdoğan and his supporters, you have to face up to this massacre, you have to apologize. A parliamentary commission should be formed for investigating the massacre.”

“We will have justice when we join hands,” HDP Ankara MP Filiz Kerestecioğlu said in her speech.

“Families are still in mourning”

HDP Istanbul Co-chair Ferhat Encü, who lost many of his family members in the massacre, made a speech at the commemoration ceremony on behalf of the families of victims. “This case is intended to be buried in the corridors of Ankara. Such a legal disaster is unacceptable. Acting as if nothing happened is unacceptable,” Ferhat Encü said in his speech.

The commemoration ended after the families left carnations in the cemetery.