We would like to urgently alert you all to the fact that we keep being confronted with new instances of AKP government’s unwarranted use of disproportionate force against civilian population resulting in heavy casualties and/or massacre on a daily basis.
The village of Roboski in Şırnak has been the latest scene of such an attack.
On May 29, 2016; Howitzers positioned in Gülyazı military station opened cannon fire on a group of villagers from Roboski engaging in cross-border trade. In this deliberate Howitzer bombardment Vedat Encü (16 years old) died on the scene and several people were wounded. Severely wounded Yılmaz Encü (18 years old) lost his life at the hospital the next day.
This assault took place in the same area that was the scene of the Roboski massacre of December 28, 2011 when Turkish war planes bombarding a group of cross-border trading villagers killed 34 peasants.
In a repetition of the sequence in 2011, today, as well, no ambulances were dispatched to the scene of attack; villagers had to transfer the wounded to hospital on tractors and their relatives were not allowed entry into the hospital building. The pictures of dead bodies being carried on mule back, from the 2011 Roboski massacre are still live in all memories.
Our Şırnak MP Mr Ferhat Encü had lost 34 relatives in the 2011 Massacre and now after having lost 2 more relatives, soldiers blocked his entry into the area for a long time. During talks carried out to gain access to the region, the gendarme commander in charge of the check-point stated that they had received instructions from the Governorship of Şırnak not to give entry permit to HDP politicians and journalists. Mr Encü was able to gain access to the area last night, after lots of attempts and difficulties.
Those responsible for the 2011 massacre have still not been brought to court and the government is trying to cover it up. This attitude that obstructed the execution of justice re 2011, has laid the groundwork for the massacre today. We would like to bring to your attention that carrying out massacres has begun to turn into a routine practice of the AKP government. What we are inclined to call ‘massacre politics’ has developed a capacity to resist and entrenched itself with the law and mechanisms of accountability being by-passed for the most part. This is creating favorable circumstances for the reenactment anew of what took place in Roboski, Cizre, Nusaybin, Silopi and Sur. The security forces of the government do not have second thoughts about attacking civilian population using howitzers and bombs.
In order to prevent all massacres against the civilian population, we call on all international democratic forces to display sensitivity towards AKP government’s policy of whitewashing and routinizing mass murder. In this context, we expect all sensitive world public opinion to manifest their various democratic reactions to this.
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