The Boys Are Dead: The Roboski Massacre and the Kurdish Question in Turkey

On the evening of December 28, 2011 the Turkish air force bombed a party of Kurdish smugglers consisting of mostly young boys, killing 34 people. Following this incident, Turkish authorities promised a full and fair investigation, though nothing of the sort took place. Soon Turkish politicians and military officials began a cover up and began blaming the victims. 'Frederike Geerdink, a Dutch investigative journalist based in Diyarbakir, visited Roboski and began asking questions about the incident, as well as the survivors and relatives quest for justice. She followed up her story with several visits. She soon realised she was dealing with a microcosm of Turkey s Kurdish question, as the Turkish state refused to be accountable for the killings that had taken place, expecting the issue to go away.' The Roboski incident soon became one more item in Turkey's catalog of human rights abuses, especially where its Kurdish subjects are concerned.