KCK: The struggle for Roboski should continue

The KCK Executive Council Co-Presidency made a statement on the anniversary of the Roboski massacre. The statement said: “10 years ago, Turkish warplanes bombed and killed 34 young people and children from Roboskil. We commemorate these fallen sons of the Kurdish people with mercy, and reiterate our promise to create a Free Kurdistan, where mountains, plains, villages and cities are not bombed, as a requirement of devotion to their memory.”

The statement continued as follows: “The fact that those responsible for this massacre have not been found and punished 10 years after the massacre is clear evidence of how the Kurdish people are approached. A Kurd can be killed, all kinds of cruelty can be committed against a Kurd, a Kurdish woman can be raped, a Kurd can be subjected to all kinds of inhumane treatment! This is the understanding in the Turkish state. Policies of impunity are applied to those who commit crimes against the Kurds. This mentality and policy are related to the policy of genocide implemented against the Kurdish people. The Kurds are thus sought to be intimidated and deterred from the freedom struggle. They said that these policies will continue to be applied to the Kurdish people as long as they don’t give in to Turkification.”

The statement added: “The warplanes that bombed the people of Roboski were given instructions from somewhere. The biggest culprits are those who gave this order. This order was given by the prime minister of the time, Tayyip Erdoğan. They said to Erdoğan ‘there is a convoy of cross-border traders with a terrorist in it’. Tayyip Erdoğan was asked whether they should hit the convoy and Tayyip Erdoğan said hit it. For this reason, the Roboski massacre criminals are not sought and prosecuted. The murder of 34 young people and children is seen as a war casualty. They want people to forget it. Thus, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan wanders freely with blood in his hands. Undoubtedly, Erdoğan is responsible for killing thousands of people. During the self-government resistance, he ordered the demolition and attack on the Kurdish cities.

The Turkish state is so anti-Kurdish that instead of prosecuting the perpetrators of the Roboski massacre, they arrested those protesting the massacre. This is how the perpetrators of Kurdish massacres have always been approached in the history of the Turkish state. While those who committed the genocide and Dersim and Zilan massacres are not punished, those who ordered them are not convicted. Those who voiced this genocide and massacre were described as separatists and put on trial and thrown into prisons.

Like the Dersim and Zilan massacres, Roboski is a massacre that exposes the reality of the Turkish state. Images of bodies brought to the village on mules’ backs will never be forgotten. This massacre will not be forgotten. Regardless of their authority, those responsible for this massacre will definitely be punished. The Kurdish people and all forces of democracy should stand by the honourable resistance of the Roboski people, support and strengthen their struggle and bring the murderers before the people’s courts.

The mothers of the Roboski martyrs have been giving an exemplary struggle for 10 years. All of our people and forces of democracy should support the struggle of the mothers of martyrs. Their cause is the cause of the entire Kurdish people and the forces of democracy. Neither Kurdistan can be liberated nor Turkey can be democratized before the killers and perpetrators of the Roboski massacre are prosecuted. The trial of all the killers, especially Roboski, is the most fundamental part of the struggle for democracy and freedom. In this respect, such massacres should not be left behind. This struggle must continue uninterruptedly until the criminals are found and prosecuted.”