Turkey launches investigation against bar association over its statement on Duhok attack

A criminal investigation has been launched in Turkey over a public statement by the bar association in Diyarbakır, concerning an artillery attack that killed nine people and injured 23 in Duhok, Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), on Wednesday.

The prosecutor's office in the Kurdish-majority city launched the investigation on an allegation of "targeting the Turkish Armed Forces in the context of an attack in Iraq."

The bar association had earlier said in its statement:

"Civilians including children were killed by bombardment of the Turkish Armed Forces in Zakho district of Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Humane law has always been rendered inapplicable when Kurds are concerned, as was the case in Roboski. We express our condolences to the families of the victims and to Kurdistan. Diyarbakır Bar Association will file complaints regarding this attack in order that the perpetrators are found and punished." *

The bar has recently been targeted by government media for its statement.

Daily Yeni Safak used the term "Devil's advocate" for the bar in its title, while Yeni Akit accused it of "slandering."

A website affiliated with a government-supporting national socialist party claimed that the bar was acting as a protective shield for the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

* 34 people from the village of Roboski in the province of Sirnak, including 19 children, were killed in an airstrike by Turkish war planes at the border crossing on 28 December 2011, while they were delivering goods packed on mules.