Harassment against Roboski families

The Public Prosecutor in Uludere has launched a criminal charge against Veli Encu who lost his brother and 11 other relatives in the bombardment by Turkish warplanes in the village of  Roboskî (Ortasu) on 28 December 2011. Encu is accused of insulting a public officer through press.

In a written statement on the criminal charge, Encu criticized the Turkish state for continuing its harassment of Roboski families and multiplying their pain every day by means of the public prosecution office.

Encu pointed out that the current peace process cannot advance unilaterally, adding; “I don’t know how a peace process runs in other territories but the one in our country is a dreadful one”. Encu underlined that Roboski families believed the process could not go a step further unless the state faces the Roboski massacre and apologizes from them.
Remarking that  Roboski families couldn’t make some sense out of the so-called peace process in Turkey, Encu said that “We do not know how we should comment the state’s approach towards us and what we have faced in the last 15 months since the massacre took place. The state which has taken no step to shed light on the massacre has persistently been trying to to intimidate us and to prevent our justice seeking since the very beginning of this process. However, we once again announce that we will never give up our struggle for justice until light is shed on the massacre”.

Encu noted that the public prosecutor has never given up its attempts to suppress Roboski families by launching investigations against them for allegedly spreading propaganda for an illegal organization.

Encu noted that he has been subjected to wiretapping and interrogation by the public prosecutor for fair and legal activities he was involved in, such as a mass march they staged in their village.

“The parliamentary commission of the government on one side, and the public prosecutor on the other side are trying to tie our hands with the intention of preventing our struggle for the disclosure of perpetrators of the massacre”, Encu said and remarked that the public prosecutors and state institutions are launching criminal actions against families of the victims instead of perpetrators.

Encu also criticized the judicial authorities for ruling dismissal of charges in response to the criminal complaint they filed against Turkish Chief of Defence Necdet Özel and evaluating his statements as freedom of expression.

I am not sure how many more times they can kill us but it would be a great lie to call this making peace which will never be achieved in this territory unless the state does what is necessary on the Roboski massacre, he added.

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