Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said steps the government has taken regarding victims of botched Uludere air strike amount to apology, saying that his government has already did what was required in this regard, Today's Zaman reported.
"It is obvious that that [requested] apology has been realized by steps [our government] has taken," Erdoğan told reporters upon his arrival from Kazakhstan on Thursday night.
Erdoğan blasted the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) for what he said trying to artificially keep the issue on the agenda. He criticized those who "put efforts to exploit" the incident, including Turkish media.
Erdoğan attempted to put an end to two-day debate over the controversial remarks of Interior Minister İdris Naim Şahin, whose statement was dismissed by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party).
AK Party Deputy Chairman Hüseyin Çelik criticized Şahin's statements in which he referred to the victims of Uludere strike as "extras" for the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), describing Şahin's approach to the issue as not "humane."
"We think this approach and style by Mr. Minister is not humane. It is also clear that the style and approach of Mr. Minister does not belong to the AK Party," Çelik told state-run Anatolia news agency.
His critical remarks came after Şahin's controversial statement during a television program on Wednesday. The interior minister criticized the local people of Uludere during the program, saying the 34 civilians killed in the airstrike were smuggling goods from bordering Iraq when they were attacked.
"It is not possible to get something right from something wrong. If they had been captured alive, they would be put on trial on charges of smuggling, but this incident overshadowed the smuggling issue," he said.
Erdoğan also dismissed Şahin's remarks and acknowledged that the authorities had made a mistake. But he complained about the ongoing debates, underlining that the region where the air strike happened are used by the PKK and that smuggling activity of the villagers should not be shown as legitimate.
On Dec. 28, 2011, Turkish fighter jets bombed a group of smugglers, mistaken for PKK members, on the Turkish-Iraqi border area near Uludere, sparking outrage in Turkey. The Turkish military stated that the warplanes had targeted the group based on intelligence that suggested a group of armed terrorists would be heading towards the Turkish border to stage attacks on the military.
Erdoğan told reporters on Thursday night that opposition demands Turkish government to apologize but he said his government has taken steps that that are equal to apology. He recalled compensation paid to families of the victims and that Deputy Prime Minister Beşir Atalay and their wives recently visited the area.
Erdoğan reiterated that legal investigation of the incident is currently going on and that "there is nothing we can do besides this."
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