To the Press and Public

The statements made by the Chief of Staff in relation to the massacres carried out by the army of the Turkish Republic in Sirnak Uludere by the warplanes do not reflect the truth.

The distance between the alleged location of the attacks Sinaht area in Haftanin and the place of massacres is at least 30 km. The location of the incident is the Serê Sas region which is near the border village of Afroke, Roboskî.

In a region where civilian people continuously pass with hundreds of mules let alone having guerrilla camps or bases, our guerrillas will not even have any movement in such an area at all. It has been alleged that at the location of the massacre we have camps or bases. Not only we do not have any camps or bases at the region mentioned, also we have not had any movement or any attempts to take any action there.

This massacre is not an accident or an unwilling act. It is an organized and planned massacre. The governor of Sirnak and its Division Commander as well as all the military and administrative authorities have knowledge of the border trade along the border line. This border trade takes place under the surveilance of the many military posts that exist throughout the miles of border line. It is therefore not possible that these civilian people have not been recognised. In addition, drones were present in the area where the massacre was carried out on the 28 December from 17 hours to 21.30 hours, when the massacre took place. Nearly everyday these people move around in the same area unarmed and with their mules. It is a total lie that these civilians were not noticed or were thought to be guerrillas.

It can be seen that the massacre is a planned one because the soldiers have gathered all the people in an area before the massacre took place. If those wounded had not reached their villages and had not given a first hand account of what had happened it is highly probable that they would have covered up what had actually happened. This massacre has thus exposed the AKP government's and Atalay's new packages of 'opening'. These are the rights Bülent Arinç was talking of giving to the Kurds; these new massacres.

This massacre is an attack directed at the patriotic people of Botan. This is the response given by the colonialist Turkish state to the patriotic nature, devotion and resistance of the people of especially Uludere and that of Botan in general. They wish to take their revenge from the proud people of Botan.

All those people living in the region show their reaction against this massacre and especially the village guards should give the weapons of the state back to them. We call on all the people of Kurdistan and especially that of Hakkari and Sirnak to show their reaction against this massacre and to hold the perpetrators of this massacre accountable through their serhildan.

HPG Media and Communication Center

29 December 2011