Rojda Aydın

 

ŞIRNAK - The mothers of the children who lost their lives in the Roboski Massacre with their hands interlocked to each other, emphasize that they will never forget what happened there, say "They were interlocked their hands to not be killed but they were massacred."

 

In Roboski village of Uludere district of Şırnak, 34 people (most of them were children) went to the Federated Kurdistan Region, on December 28, 8 years ago, and it was known by  the soldiers . When they returned, they were bombed and massacred by F-16s belonging to the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK).

 

The villagers, who went to the scene after the massacre, found the hands of 7 people (5 of them were children) interlocked,  who were hiding under the rocks after the first bombardment but they lost their lives in the second bombardment. Erkan Encü (13), Şivan Encü (14), Mehmet Encü (15), Serhat Encü (17), Yüksel Ürek (17), Adem Ant (18), Seyit Enç (22) were hidden behind the mules and by interlocked hands to not be seen by the planes. But they were also massacred with the bombardment. When their bodies were taken out from under the ground, they were found with their hands clasped together.

 

'Nobody spoke about massacre'

 

Serhat Encü's mother, Halime Encü, who lost his son in the massacre, reminds that when her child's body was found, they held hands with six of his friends. Stating that the perpetrators were not punished despite nine years past , Halime continues as follows: “34 young people were brutally massacred. The whole world witnessed this massacre, but nobody spoke about it. Our pain is so huge that we don't know what to say anymore. Every day a new day starts for people, but not for us. The day when justice is served, then the day will rise for us too. Our children hadn't done bad things.  We had relatives in Northern Iraqi. He was going to see them at Serhat, and departures were not forbidden. My son left in the morning and returned in the evening. Our children had dreams. They were going these ways to make their dreams come true. 34 students were killed by the Turkish State. The state decided to kill our children in half an hour and massacred them. Our children did not bring weapons from there. They  just brought the diesel. "

 

'Mothers' hearts are full of pain'

 

Halime, who says “Peace and freedom cannot come with cruelty,” reminds that the bodies of her children's bodies who were massacred by the bombardment were mixed together. Halime, who asks "What had our kids done?" and expresses what happened there. ''When we went to get the funeral of our children, we couldn't recognize them. Ambulances were not allowed to come to the place where the incident took place. If the ambulance was allowed to go there, both my son and the other children would have been saved. It was done consciously by soldiers and our children were massacred there. Parts of our children's bodies were found days later. My son's hand was found four days after the incident. When we found his body, he was martyred, there was a victory sign in his hands. The day our children were massacred, their dreams were also massacred and our dreams were also massacred. 34 bodies were cut into pieces. Isn't this cruelty? We will never accept this. Enough for this war.. We want peace and freedom. We want other children to live. Mothers' hearts are full of pain. We do not want massacres to happen any more. It's enough."

 

"They held hands of each other with hoping to live"

 

Şivan Encü's mother, Heyyam Encü, says that her child crossed the border and brought diesel for his school expenses and the soldiers there knew about it. Noting that Şivan held the hands of other children with the hope of living, Heyyam said, “The state did not allow children to live. Our children hadn't done anything bad. Our children were brutally massacred. Our children did not deserve to die. The state has been protecting the murderers of our children for 9 years. If the perpetrators are punished, our hearts will be relieved. We are always dressed in black because the perpetrators of our children have not been punished. All we want is justice, but there is no justice in Turkey. We do not celebrate because of mourning. If our children were arrested for smuggling, but not massacred. There were injured ones. But the ambulance didn't come to take them to the hospital. We had to bring the bodies by tractor. Funerals were in pieces. "Seven people held hands with each other to resist".

 

‘We will repeat our calls for justice’

 

Stating that she lost one of her sons on November 18, 2018 and that the hurt in her heart was further multiplied, Heyyam said, "After my son Şivan was murdered, my other son told me" Mom, I do not want to go to school, they killed my brother. " Seven years after I lost Şivan, I lost my other son in a traffic accident. There are ten days between their deaths' anniversaries. I have three children now. Justice still hasn't served. We will repeat our call for justice until justice is served ”.

 

‘Nobody made a sound for Roboski’

 

Erkan Encü is one of the seven children whose hands are interlocked. His mother, Feleknaz Encü, comments: “After the massacre, everyone was in silence. It was like the children were not killed there. Nobody made a sound for Roboski. Nine years have passed but the perpetrators were not found. The state promised us that they would punish the perpetrators, but they did not. We told First Lady Erdoğan about our problem, but she didn't support us. Our children were too young. Justice has been destroyed for nine years. Why are our children being murdered? It's been nine years, but nobody talks about Roboski. "

 

'The state should apologize to us'

 

Emphasizing that the world is like a deaf and mute in the face of the Roboski Massacre, Feleknaz said, “Nobody even wanted to mention the name Roboski. The state continues its oppression on us. We are sued. We filed lawsuits to find the perpetrators, but none of them resulted. The European Court of Human Rights has no verdict. The state should apologize to us. Our demand for justice will continue ”and says they will fight for the punishment of the perpetrators.