DEM Party statement on İmralı: 'A new era...'

DEM Party Co-Chair Tuncer Bakırhan spoke at a commemoration event held on the 13th anniversary of the incident in Uludere, where citizens engaged in cross-border trade lost their lives after being targeted under the suspicion of being PKK members.

İMRALI MEETING

Regarding the meeting held by DEM Party members Sırrı Süreyya Önder and Pervin Buldan with Abdullah Öcalan in İmralı, Bakırhan said, "As we speak here right now, our delegation is currently meeting with Mr. Abdullah Öcalan on İmralı island. We attach importance to this; it is important. Mr. Öcalan must be engaged with. The lock on the door of İmralı must be opened. But be a little sincere, a little honest. I hope the İmralı meetings will open a new era in the new year. May it be a year where these massacres, especially Roboski, are confronted. I hope the discussions in İmralı will ensure that the Kurdish issue in Turkey is resolved through democratic means on a democratic foundation. I hope the search for rights and justice by the mothers of Roboskî finds its response in the new year."

'PROBLEMS CANNOT BE SOLVED WITH MASSACRES'

Bakırhan stated, "The perpetrators are known; until the perpetrators are tried and punished for this massacre, this festering wound will continue. They will not be able to make this wound be forgotten. We also warn those here who ignore, do not see, and do not take the necessary action regarding Roboski in the dark corridors of Ankara. For 100 years, you have committed massacres against many social segments in Turkey, especially the Kurds. You cannot solve these problems with massacres and unsolved murders, and you have not been able to."

'ROBOSKİ IS A KURDISH ISSUE'

Stating, "You have not been able to solve the Kurdish issue with these police stations and fortress-like outposts you see, and you cannot," Bakırhan continued as follows:

"Kurds have been living on these lands for thousands of years. They want to exist with their own identities, languages, and beliefs. They want to live as equal citizens. See this reality now. Look, for 13 years, our mothers have been commemorating their children and siblings here with an anger that does not subside and a pain that does not end. They are following their cases. Roboski does not end when you ignore it. You say in the dark corridors of Ankara that there was no murder or massacre, but that is invalid here. The perpetrators of this massacre must be tried and brought before the judiciary as soon as possible. Roboski is a Kurdish issue; the Kurdish question cannot be solved without Roboski being resolved and its perpetrators being tried. Today, our Kurdish brothers and sisters live across the border. There are Kurds in Rojava. Every bomb you drop there shatters the hearts of the Roboskî mothers, creating the same pain left in the hearts of their children."