Turkey’s armed forces admit to killing civilians

Turkey’s armed forces have killed thirty-five civilians in a Kurdish village near the country’s border with Iraq.

An official from the ruling Justice and Development Party admitted the attack could have been a blunder and vowed there would be no cover-up in the ongoing investigation.

Husyein Celik, the party’s vice-president, said that they were probably cigarette smugglers and not Kurdish separatists.

Local politicians said the victims were aged between 16 and 20.

The Turkish military carried out the airstrike on Wednesday night following a tip-off that the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, was preparing to attack some of its bases.

The PKK, labelled as a terrorist organisation by Ankara, the European Union and the United States, regularly carries out raids as part of its struggle for greater autonomy for Kurds living in south-east Turkey.

Tens of thousand of people have died since it took up arms in 1984.

Copyright © 2012 euronews