Turkey bombed Kurdish villages in the 90s, court finds

[Aslan]

STRASBOURG, France, Nov. 12 (UPI) -- The European Court of Human Rights called on Turkey to conduct a criminal investigation into a military attack that left 33 civilians dead in 1994.
The court issued its preliminary findings Tuesday in the case of Benzer et al. vs. Turkey. In that case, the Turkish government was accused by the applicants of bombing two villages in March 1994. The Turkish government said the attack was the work of the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party, known by its Kurdish initials PKK.

The court said it concluded, based on eyewitness testimonies, villages were bombing by aircraft, not the PKK. After reviewing flight logs, which the Turkish government said initially it didn't have, the court said missions near southern Turkey were conducted at the time the applicants said they occurred.

"In the light of this evidence, the court concluded that the Turkish government had conducted an aerial attack killing 33 of the applicants' relatives and injuring three of the applicants themselves," it said.

The court said its ruling wasn't final because of investigations at the national level. It said, however, steps should be taken "by the national authorities in order to prevent impunity."