No intentional attack in Uludere tragedy: Parliamentary report

ANKARA

A military airstrike killed 34 civilians in Uludere on Dec. 28, 2011. Hürriyet photo

A parliamentary report investigating the Uludere tragedy of 2011 found no evidence that the military intentionally hit civilians, who were mistaken for terrorists, determining that poor coordination between the army and intelligence was the main reason behind the deaths.

“It’s been concluded that the investigations on this incident produced no evidence that the attack was an intentional one,” the report issued by a sub-commission of Parliament’s Human Rights Inquiry Commission read. The commission concluded its work March.22 after issuing its 84-page report. The report came after a 15 months inquiry into the incident, which was the subject of fierce debate between the ruling and oppositions parties.

The Uludere incident refers to the death of 34 civilian villagers in an air strike on Dec. 28, 2011, when they were allegedly mistaken for PKK militants as they smuggled oil and other goods, such as sugar and tea, into Turkey from northern Iraq.

The report criticized the lack of physical obstacles to prevent local people crossing into Iraq to carry out their quasi-routine smuggling activities, the primary means of economic subsistence in the region. “Apart from this, opening a new border gate in this province and taking measures to legalize the trade on the border is strongly advised,” read the report.

The Human Rights Commission will discuss the report on Wednesday next week.