Kurdish journalist Nagihan Akarsel killed in armed attack in Iraqi Kurdistan

Photo: HDP Women/Twitter

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Nagihan Akarsel, a journalist and academic, was killed today (October 4) in an armed attack in the Sulaymaniyah city of Iraq's Kurdistan Region.

Akarsel was shot in front of her home at around 10 a.m. local time, and was immediately killed, the Mezopotamya Agency (MA) reported. Her body was taken to the Sulaymaniyah Forensic Medicine Institution.

Akarsel was a member of the Jineology Research Center and an editor for the Jineology Magazine. She has been living in Sulaymaniyah as part of her studies on jineology, which means "science of women" in Kurdish.

Most recently, she was working as part of a project for the establishment of the Academy of Jineology and the Women's Library of Kurdistan.

Between 2008 and 2014, she worked as a journalist for the Türkiye-based Dicle News Agency (DİHA), which was shut down by a statutory decree in 2016.

She also was a columnist for the pro-Kurdish Yeni Özgür Politika newspaper.

Reactions

Several women's groups and denounced the killing of Akarsel and expressed condolences on Twitter.

Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Women's Branch said, "The bullet fired at Nagihan Akarsel were also shot at our struggle for women's freedom. We will hold the murderers accountable for escalating our struggle for women's freedom!"

HDP deputy Ayşe Acar-Başaran said, "Your massacres cannot stop us. Fear the women's struggle; we'll be strengthened by every attempt, every attack of yours!"

Rosa Women's Association said, "This slaughter is a result of the hatred, anger and hate against the women's struggle, women's freedom and misogynistic policies." (EMK/VK)