Police detained at least 39 people, including politicians and 10 journalists, during protests in the Kurdish-majority city of Van following the killing of two Kurdish journalists in a drone strike targeting a vehicle in Syria yesterday.
Nazım Daştan and Cihan Bilgin were killed while covering clashes near the Tishrin Dam in Syria’s Aleppo province, just south of the symbolically significant Kurdish city of Kobani.
The protest in Van was organized by the Dicle Fırat Journalists Association (DFG) and the Mezopotamya Women Journalists Association (MKG), with support from the Van Labor and Democracy Platform. Protesters gathered at the entrance to Sanat Street, carrying banners reading, “Neither our pens nor our cameras will fall” alongside photos of the killed journalists.
Police blocked access to the area, surrounding the protesters and preventing them from issuing a public statement. Among those detained were Mezopotamya Agency (MA) reporters Ruken Polat, Özlem Yacan, Mazlum Engindeniz, and Sema Yüce Polat; Ajansa Welat reporters Bazid Evran and Fırat Tunç; JINNEWS reporter Memihan Zeydan; and journalists Zelal Tunç, Nimet Ölmez, and Oktay Candemir.
Some detainees were subjected to violent treatment before being taken to the provincial police headquarters, according to MA reporting.
Video capturing the moments of the altercation:
Protest in Diyarbakır
In Diyarbakır, members of journalism groups, of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party, and the TJA women's rights group held a demonstration to protest the killings.
In a statement read out during the event, the protesters said, “For decades, the Free Press has worked under the most challenging conditions to report the truth to the public, not only in Kurdistan but across the Middle East and the world."
The group honored Daştan’s and Bilgin’s dedication to covering critical events, including Daştan’s work documenting Kurdish forces' fight against ISIS in 2014 in Syria's Kobani town and Bilgin’s reporting on the 2017 battle of Raqqa. “They fought to illuminate the darkest places with their cameras and notebooks,” said the statement.
The journalists had been covering recent clashes between the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Turkish-backed groups near Kobani.
The area has seen escalating clashes since early December, cocinding with the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime. Turkey has reportedly supported the SNA with drone and artillery strikes as the conflict intensifies.
Previous killings of journalists
In the past two years, several Kurdish journalists have been killed in drone strikes reportedly in northern Iraq and Syria. Victims include Îsam Abdullah of Hawar News Agency (ANHA) in 2022, JIN TV staff member Necmeddin Faysal; and Çira TV reporter Murat Mîrza.
The Turkish government has remained silent on most of these cases. However, state media reported in August that Rojnews executive Gülistan Tetik, (Tara), was killed in a Turkish intelligence operation. (VK)
