Human Rights Association (IHD) Amed Branch held a press conference on the 5th year anniversary of Roboskî massacre today. IHD Deputy Chair and Amed Branch President Raci Bilici, Regional Representative Abdusselam İnceören and other IHD administrators attended the meeting. Bilici read out the press statement, recalled the massacre of 34 civilians including 19 children, and said "Roboskî will be remembered as a bloody massacre.”

'PERPETRATORS PROTECTED'

Raci Bilici stated that the massacre inflicted a heavy blow against social justice and conscience, and shared information on the ‘legal process’ regarding the massacre. Bilici said “Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office carried out the investigation on the massacre and despite the demands of interested parties, it has issued a decision of non-jurisdiction and sent the file to Turkey’s General Staff Chief Prosecutor, who then decided that the file does not need an investigation. Lawyer appealed to this decision and sent the case to the Constitutional Court, which also refused the case and violated laws, the constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights. The file then was taken to European Court of Human Rights because all internal legal options were exhausted, and the case continues in Europe. As you can see in the story of the case on the massacre, the perpetrators have been protected through the direction of the case to military jurisdiction. Of course, no justice would come out of such a process.”

'NEW MASSACRES TOOK PLACE BECAUSE ROBOSKÎ WAS NOT INVESTIGATED'

Bilici noted that the recent history of Turkey is remembered with massacres such as Maraş, Çorum, Sivas, Digor, Güçlükonak, Gazi neighborhood, Diyarbakır Prison and December 19, the perpetrators of which have been protected. Bilici emphasized that a state mentality without human rights and justice could not prosecute the perpetrators of these atrocities, and paves the way for new massacres and extrajudicial killings.

DEMANDS

Bilici said that, as human rights defenders, they believe that the perpetrators of crimes against humanity would eventually be brought to justice, and made the following demands:

"An effective investigation on Roboskî massacre should be launched immediately, and the perpetrators should be punished. A ‘Truth and Reconciliation Commission’ should be established in order to investigate the massacres in Turkey’s recent history and to create social peace."