Tosun: Our struggle to achieve justice for Roboski continues

Zeki Tosun, who lost his son in the Roboski massacre, spoke about the attitude of the judiciary and said: "They want to silence us, but we will continue our struggle for justice."

Roboski village in Uludere, province of Şırnak was bombed by Turkish F-16 planes on 28 December 2011. Nine years have passed since the massacre, in which 34 people were murdered, yet the trial has shown no progress.

The state's policy of impunity seems to be prevailing over justice. The application submitted to the Constitutional Court (AYM) by the lawyers and institutions responsible for the file was rejected due to some missing documents. The file, which reached the European Court of Human Rights, was not evaluated because, the European Court said, “domestic remedies have not been exhausted”.

Zeki Tosun, who lost his son Mehmet Ali Tosun in the massacre, spoke to ANF about the legal process of the case.

Justice for Roboski means justice for the Kurdish people

Tosun said that they are carefully following the legal process and added that it is the responsibility of the bar associations dealing with the file which somehow prompted the decision to by European Court of Human Rights. He pointed out that if the lawyers had sent the missing documents, maybe the ECHR would have taken a different decision. He added that they are pursuing all legal venues.

"We filed an application to the United Nations. We will not hesitate to resort to all means to seek our rights," said Tosun adding: "We have experienced all kind of persecution. Our lawyers have started a new process, but our file, which has been submitted to the Uludere Chief Public Prosecutor for more than a year, is on hold. I personally have no hope left given the current understanding of justice. However, we would like justice to be served again. If justice finally prevails in the Roboski massacre, a door will be opened for the punishment of all injustices faced by the Kurdish people."

Tosun said that the families of Roboski would find some comfort in even the slightest just approach and added: "Our search for justice has been met with cases opened against us. There are 4 investigations opened against me. The lawsuits against many of our villagers are still open. They try to silence us. They want Roboski to be dumb, deaf and blind. So far nothing has been done. We as families still raise our voice and continue our struggle. All families are united on this.”