Roboski massacre

Culture of origin: Kurdish · Historical

Holiday sources: Kurdish

On the night of 28 December 2011 a group of about 40 Kurdish villagers, mostly teenagers from Roboski (Ortasu) in Uludere, Şırnak province, were crossing from Iraq into Turkey with mules carrying cigarettes and fuel, by the Turkish account, when two Turkish Air Force F-16s bombed them, killing 34, 19 of them children. The Turkish Air Force said it had mistaken them for fighters of the PKK. A military prosecutor dismissed the families' complaint, the Constitutional Court found their appeal inadmissible, and the European Court of Human Rights dismissed it in turn; no one has been tried. Every 28 December the villagers, Kurdish politicians and others gather to commemorate the dead and demand justice.