Perpetrators of the 2011 massacre in Roboski in Şırnak’s Uludere district where 34 civilians, most of them children, were killed by bombs dropped from Turkish fighter jets have yet to face justice, and the residents of Roboski are facing another massacre attempt 4.5 years after the first one. 16 year old Vedat Encü was killed and 5 people were wounded (one of them in critical condition) when tanks positioned on hills by the Gülyazı Regimental Command bombed a 40 person civilian group who went out for border trade. Roboski residents, who have been seeking justice for the last 5 years and have been gathering at the graves of the 34 massacred civilians every Thursday and in front of the Şırnak Courthouse on the last Thursday of every month, say that this second massacre attempt was a deliberate and planned action.

THE STATE CONTINUES TO KILL ROBOSKI RESIDENTS

Vahit Encü lost his brother Savaş Encü in the massacre where 34 civilians were killed by fighter jets and is in the administration of the Roboski-Der, the organisation founded to seek justice for the massacre. He said the mindset that violently massacred Roboski residents 5 years ago had not changed and that the AKP continued to kill Roboski residents through the state forces. Encü said they went straight to the area after they received the news and called 112 emergency hotline to ask for ambulances. They reached the massacre area with tractors. Encü said, “They didn’t send ambulances. We saw our relatives getting bombed in the same area and at the same hour as the previous massacre. Vedat Encü, brother of Davut Encü who survived the previous massacre, had lost his life. There were 5 more wounded people. When the ambulances didn’t show, we transported them to the hospital in the district with the tractors. The state mentality has unfortunately once again committed a Roboski massacre. The border trade has been going on for more than ten days. Our relatives were bombed without any warnings.”

“WE ARE EXPERIENCING THE SAME MASSACRE SCENARIO AS 2011”

Veli Encü, president of Roboski-Der and brother of Serhat Encü who was killed in the 2011 Roboski Massacre, also stressed that the massacre that resulted in one person’s death and the injury of 5 others was on par with the first Roboski massare. Encü said yesterday’s massacre was deliberate and planned and stated that the AKP had put pressure on the Roboski residents and tried to intimidate them through the state forces countless times after the first Roboski massacre. Encü said the massacre of the previous night was part of the systemic intimidation tactics imposed on them by the state and continued: “The brother of Vedat Öncü who was killed last night in the bombing was a survivor of the first massacre. They are trying to force the people here to abandon their rightful cause with intimidation and murders. We as the Roboski families have not bowed down to the government and the state, and we never will.”

SECOND MASS MURDER ATTEMPT AT THE SAME TIME, IN THE SAME PLACE

Encü said they were worried about many people in the group as they couldn’t reach them because of the bombing last night, and that they were worried that the group crossing over to Southern Kurdistan would face another bombing due to the fighter jet activity in the region. Encü stressed that there was no difference between the first Roboski massacre of aerial bombings and the terrestrial bombings of yesterday and said, “The number of people in the first group was more or less the same as the group bombed last night. This time, they bombed them with tanks stationed on hills instead of fighter jets. The army knew they were civilians, they knew who they were, and still they bombed them. Just like in the first massacre, deliberately. These people were on the border trade route for two weeks. The army said nothing on their coming and going. The people were using a route that passed between two border outposts. The army could have reached them via the “security roads” built along the border and warned them, they could have stopped them. But they choose to bomb and kill our civilian people instead. They continue to kill the residents of Roboski in this manner.”

THE SERIES OF ROBOSKI MASSACRES CONTINUE

Encü said the perpetrators of Roboski massacre, led by Erdoğan and carried out by the AKP, chose to continue their series of massacres on the Roboski residents and to inrease their pain, instead of facing justice, and continued: “The state carried out the second Roboski massacre, following their threats, arrests and intimidation tactics. They implemented the most severe measure of intimidation on the Roboski families seeking justice. The massacre carried out last night with the bombing is a part of this. This is how they tell us that they can kill us whenever they want, that the state has given them that right. They have no reservations about this. They can act in this manner, committing another massacre before the perpetrators of the first one faced justice. We will continue our legal struggle to have them on trial. We will not step back from our rightful cause until the perpetrators face justice.”

ANGER RISES IN ROBOSKI AGAINST THE AKP AND THE TURKISH STATE

Meanwhile, the nervous wait continues in Roboski following the bombing that killed one and wounded five. Mourning started in the home of Vedat Encü’s family. Encü’s funeral will be held following an autopsy. But, according to reports, the state is not allowing Encü to be buried next to the Roboski massacre victims and have been threatening the family.

Encü family home is filled with the mourner’s cries and anger is rising against the AKP and the state, considered to be responsible for the massacre.