ARJÎN DİLEK ÖNCEL

Amed (Diyarbakır)- On August 23,2024, a Turkish drone targeted a vehicle carrying journalists in the Said Sadiq district of Sulaymaniyah, killing two women journalists, Gülistan Tara and Hêro Bahadîn.

Gülistan Tara was born in Êlih (Batman) in 1983. After completing her primary and secondary education in Batman, she began to take an active role in the Free Press when she was only 17. She always made great efforts to report the violations against the Kurdish people. She was killed along with her colleague Hêro Bahadîn in a Turkish drone strike targeting their vehicle in the Said Sadiq district of Sulaymaniyah  on August 23, 2024.

Hêro Bahadîn, a reporter of Sterk TV, was 27 years old when she was killed in the strike. Like all other press martyrs, she was killed while doing journalism.

“The struggle of Gülistan Tara and Hêro Bahadîn is the struggle of all Kurdish women journalists,” said Roza Metina, the president of the Mesopotamia Women Journalists Association (Turkish: Mezopotamya Kadın Gazeteciler Derneği, MKG).

“Gülistan Tara is a symbol of the Free Press. She never gave up struggling as a woman and journalist despite all the challenges. Journalists making efforts for the Free Press never bow down to the system. Gülistan was a party to this struggle. Despite all the challenges, she reported the truth.”

‘They were targeted’

Roza Matina thinks that Gülistan Tara was killed because she reported the war policies in the Kurdistan Region. “The purpose of the attacks was to cover up the government’s dirty policies. These two women journalists were targeted because they revealed the policies of the Turkish state and the Iraqi regional government.”

Roza Metina recalled that Gülistan Tara and Hêro Bahadîn and Cihan Bilgin, a journalist killed in a Turkish drone strike in North and East Syria on December 19, 2024, reported war crimes and commemorated all women journalists, who were killed while doing journalism. “They never bowed to the system and oppression.”

‘The unity of journalists is a response to the attackers’

Kurdish journalists in four parts of Kurdistan also face rights violations such as arrest, killing and threats, Roza Metina emphasized. “In Northern Kurdistan, Kurdish journalists cannot do journalism freely. In Southern Kurdistan, Kurdish journalists face the same problems. Moreover, journalists are killed in Southern Kurdistan and North and East Syria due to the policies of the Turkish state. They are executed in Rojhilat. In four parts of Kurdistan, Kurdish journalists face oppression. Therefore, the unity of Kurdish journalists in four parts of Kurdistan is important and a response to the attackers.”

‘We will not take a step back’

Kurdish women journalists are killed, arrested and face judicial harassment, Roza Metina said. “We will not take a step back from our struggle despite everything. They kill and arrest us to intimidate us. Lawsuits and investigations are used against Kurdish women journalists as a threat, a tool of oppression and torture. Despite everything, we will continue to report the truth. We vow once again that we will follow in the footsteps of Gülistan, Hêro and our other press martyrs. They will continue to report.”