Chief of General Staff asked "silence" on Roboski

Chief of General Staff asked "silence" on Roboski

Speaking at the reception on the occasion of April 23 National Sovereignty and Children's Day, Turkish Chief of General Staff Necdet Özel touched on Roboski massacre and asked for “silence” from the press.

Özel claimed the General Staff to have delivered all related documents to the prosecution’s office and made the following evaluation concerning Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) objection to inform the sub-commission of Parliemantary Commission on Human Rights; “We have delivered all required information to Specially Authorized Prosecutor of Diyarbakýr within the scope of the authority it has. However, nobody seems to comply with the confidentiality decision of the judiciary.”

Thirty four civilians, many of them under 18, involved in border trade in Roboski village of Uludere/Þýrnak lost their life as a result of bombing by TSK warplanes on December 28, 2011.

As the mainstream Turkish media didn’t report the event for 14 hours, Presidency of General Staff made a statement after 14 hours which explained the bombing as an “operational accident”.