Roboski Massacre The Roboski strike , also known as the Uludere massacre , Sirnak massacre , or Roboski massacre took place on December 28 , 2011 at 9 : 37 pm local time near Turkish - Iraqi border . Two Turkish F16 jets fired at a group of villagers , acting on an information that PKK militants were crossing the border . According to Turkish government sources 34 cigarette smuggling civilians were killed in the incident . Incident . A group of 40 Kurdish villagers of Turkish nationality , mostly teenagers , from the Ortasu ( in Kurdish : Robozik ) and Gülyazı villages in Uludere district of Şırnak Province were moving in the night of December 28 , 2011 from Iraqi territory towards Turkish border . The people were on a tour for smuggling cigarettes , diesel oil and the like into Turkey , packed on mules . Turkish Armed Forces had received certain information about activities at the region supplied by United States intelligence services that was based on a U . S . drone ten days before the incident . The footage of the unmanned aerial vehicle s flying over the terrain was mistakenly evaluated as a group of militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers ’ Party ( PKK ) . Pentagon officials were quoted as saying that American drones initially spotted the group , but after alerting the Turks and offering to conduct more detailed surveillance they were denied and “ Turkish officers instead directed the Americans who were remotely piloting the drone to fly it somewhere else . ” The security forces were criticized in the media for their failure and losses . The ordered two F - 16 Fighting Falcon s of the Turkish Air Force took off and bombed the area . The next morning , relatives searched for the missing people , and found the bodies of the victims . 34 people belonging to the group were killed during and shortly after the airstrike . Two civilians escaped to Iraq . Only one survivor , Servet Encü , returned to his village . 28 of the dead were from the Encü family . The bodies , some of them burnt beyond recognition or dismembered , were transported to their hometown on mules due to rough terrain . Servet Encü told that the people in his village and neighboring settlements are in smuggling business since many years and generations as well because they are financially in need . He added that Iraqi traders bring diesel oil or tea by their vehicles to close to the border , and they buy the goods and bring them home on trails that takes about two and half hours . He alleged that the smuggling action was well known by the security forces at the border . Funeral . The funeral of the victims , following an autopsy performed in the Uludere hospital , took place at a newly established cemetery between the villages Ortasu and Gülyazı . The funeral convoy , formed by about 1 , 000 vehicles and attended by a crowd of about 10 , 000 people , covered the distance of between the district center and the cemetery in one hour . The coffins were wrapped with the flag of PKK , even though the victims were members of village guard families , a local militia supported by the state in defense against the PKK guerrilla . Protests . Major protests followed in Turkey ' s predominantly Kurdish cities , most notably Diyarbakır where protests turned violent and police used batons and tear gas against protesters and protesters threw stones and Molotov cocktails at police . Protests were also held in Ankara and Istanbul , where over 1 , 000 protesters gathered in Taksim Square and threw stones at police and smashed vehicles before police dispersed the crowds with tear gas and water cannons . District governor Naif Yavuz , who was from the beginning on together with the smugglers at the autopsy and the funeral service , paid later a visit to house of the relatives of the victims for condolonce . Shortly after his visit , he was attacked by a mob , which attempted to lynch him . He barely escaped the attack with the help of his security guards , however , was hospitalized for his injuries . It turned out to be an act of people , who came outside the village . It has been alleged that BDP deputy Hasip Kaplan was behind this attack . In Nicosia , around 300 Kurds and Turkish Cypriots marched on the Turkish embassy in Northern Cyprus , where Murat Kanatlı , head of the left - wing New Cyprus Party spoke to the crowd and accused Turkey of escalating tensions in the South - East . The demonstration ended peacefully . In Tehran , a group of Iranian Kurds demonstrated in front of the Turkish embassy in Iran . In Arbil , some 500 Iraqi Kurds protested the killing , some of which clashed with Iraqi Kurdistan security forces , although no casualties were reported . Some protesters carried pictures of Abdullah Öcalan and chanted " fight , fight for freedom " and " Erdogan is a terrorist . " At the protest , Kurdish activist Ali Mahmoud told the press that " The crime . . . is a real genocide , a war crime and a crime against humanity , and breaches international laws , we demand that Turkey be judged in the international courts . " Public opinion . In a MetroPOLL survey which involved 1 , 174 people , when asked about who was ultimately responsible for the deaths , 14 . 5 % of Turks said the state , 11 . 5 % said the smugglers , 9 . 5 % said the PKK , 5 . 4 % said the prime minister of the government and 4 . 9 % said it was the General Staff . When asked whether the government had fulfilled its responsibilities towards the incident , some 45 % said yes , with 38 . 1 % saying no .