Cries of 'murderer' ring out as fresh fist fights rock Turkish parliament | Middle East Eye

29.4.16

Cries of 'murderer' ring out as fresh fist fights rock Turkish parliament | Middle East Eye: “I remember the civilians recently massacred by shelling in [the southeastern town of] Silopi,” Ferhat Encu, an HDP representative from the Sirnak province in southeast Turkey, told fellow MPs.

“I remember the 34 people, including children, who were brutally bombed by Turkish warplanes in Roboski four years ago.”

The highly controversial incident took place in late 2011 when a drone identified a group of 37 people crossing from Iraqi Kurdistan to Turkey. Ankara then scrambled F-16 jets to bomb the group, killing 34 people including 17 children, presumably believing them to be fighters from the outlawed Kurdish Workers Party (PKK).

Subsequent investigations, however, revealed that the group was made up of villagers in southeastern Turkey who were using mules to smuggle oil, cigarettes, sugar and coffee – not weapons – from Iraq.

Several AKP MPs, however, firmly rejected Encu’s statement, calling him a PKK supporter and a “murderer”.