On December 28, 2011, 34 people in the village of Roboski in Şırnak's Qilêban (Uludere) district, including 19 minors, were killed in airstrikes carried out by occupying Turkish army. Although 7 years have passed since the massacre, the perpetrators have not been held to account and justice has not been done yet. Legal efforts of the relatives of the victims yielded no results.

So far neither the European Court for Human Rights (ECHR) has given a fair vote, nor have the lawyers of the case carried out the required follow up for a decision.

‘Not the perpetrators, the victims were sentenced’

Encu underlined that since the massacre until now, the families of the victims have faced a massive pressure and continued attacks, and that this is related to their struggle to hold to account the political and military individuals responsible for the crime. “They referred the file from a so-called civilian court to a military court. Hence they tried to deactivate the case, and put pressure on us the victims,” Encu said.

They want to erase the reality behind Roboski massacre

Encu added that the political and military authorities then released misleading statements in order to manipulate the case and conceal the reality from the public. “The students who attended the memorial ceremony for the victims, were detained and then imprisoned. The journalists, intellectuals and authors who spoke up for the truth, were all silenced,” Encu said.

“We will continue seeking justice”

Encu stated that due to the failure of the case’s lawyers, the right of the Roboski victims’ relatives to seek justice was taken away from them, adding: “Now the case is jammed, despite the negligence of the lawyers and the negative vote by the ECHR, we will continue seeking justice even if it is at the bottom of a deep well.”

Therefore we call on all human rights lawyers to support our efforts. This call is for those who have not lost their hope in justice.”