Erdogan 'Regrets' Death of Kurdish Civilians in Air Strike
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed regret Friday for the death of 35 Kurdish civilians in an air strike, saying it had been determined they were smugglers and not separatist rebels.
Speaking to journalists in Istanbul, Erdogan offered his condolences to the families of the victims for what he called an "unfortunate and distressing" incident.
"Images transmitted by drones showed a group of 40 people in the area, it was impossible to say who they were," he said. "Afterwards it was determined they were smugglers transporting cigarettes and fuel on mules."
In his first reaction to the strike by Turkish air force F-16s on the border with Iraq late Wednesday, Erdogan said that "no state deliberately bombs its own people."
He said that separatist rebels of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) had used the same route and methods to bring weapons into Turkey to mount attacks, and called for critics to await the result of an official inquiry.
30 December 2011, 14:19
11
well well well Erdo lets have a Nato no fly zone over turkey for a change for what you've done and still doing..
30 December 2011, 17:29
00
Lol now he's saying no state bombs its own people? No wonder he's been quiet about Syria lately. What kind of country uses fighter jets on its own territory on an unidentified group of people? You need to be damn sure who the people are when it's inside your borders dum dum
30 December 2011, 22:35
00
lemme get this straight
Turkey kills Kurd civilians says it's was a mistake apologies = Bad
Syria kills Lebanese and Syrians civilians calls them terrorists just like it did with the people that opposed it's occupation of Lebanon = Good and bibdamm birrou7 nafdeeka ya Assad!
good job guys!
10 August 2012, 08:25
00
We need to make no-fly zone over Turkey to stop genocide of Kurd civilians and break bloody dictator Erdogan.
