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Turkish Kurds react to court decision on Roboski bombing

Turkey's military prosecutor has decided not to prosecute those behind the deadly December 2011 Roboski incident, causing Kurds to lose their hope of finding justice.
Relatives of the 34 Turkish Kurdish civilians who were killed in Decemeber 2011 in a botched raid in Uludere at Turkey-Iraq border by Turkish military jets that mistook the group for Kurdish rebels based in Iraq, hold pictures as they stage a protest in Ankara on December 28, 2013.      AFP PHOTO / ADEM ALTAN        (Photo credit should read ADEM ALTAN/AFP/Getty Images)

A specter is haunting Turkey’s policy in defense of its national interests, territorial integrity and security: the specter of being trapped in the difficulties of fighting against terror for three decades at least, with nearly 40,000 dead, and failing in this time to peacefully resolve the country’s Kurdish dilemma. While there is no doubt that the fight against terror is not a clean task, it still should be no excuse for authorities to keep demanding that the people accept any wrongdoing as collateral damage.

When Turkey’s military court decided on Jan. 7 that there was no need to prosecute the December 2011 air bombardment of Uludere — Roboski in Kurdish — which resulted in the death of 34 Kurdish civilians, it was evident that that decision would not be well-received in the people’s conscience. The military prosecutor’s office based its reasoning on the fact that the order for the operation came directly from the chief of the General Staff. It also underlined that carrying out such an order could only be considered normal procedure, but it was unfortunate that the intelligence was bad, and that had led to this tragic “error.”

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