Saturday, December 21, 2024

Colombian president Petro condemns killing of Kurdish journalists Bilgin and Daştan



ANF
NEWS DESK
Saturday, 21 December 2024, 

Colombian president Gustavo Petro condemned the killing of Kurdish journalists Cihan Bilgin and Nazım Daştan.

The president reposted a statement from the Coalition for Women in Journalism on X and wrote: "In present-day Syria, a free Kurdish journalist has been murdered.

I ask the heads of state of Russia, Iran, Turkey, Israel and the United States to stop the division of Syria.

They are heading towards a new genocide. The genocide of the Kurdish people. The genocide of the Palestinian people was not enough.

Syria must continue to be a republic, based on its national and ethnic diversity and on the profound autonomy of its diversity.

If free elections are required for countries in the world, let them be held in Syria. The Syrian people have the right to self-determination. The Syrian people must be allowed to hold free elections to define their future.

As I have done in the past, from this distant Colombia in the Middle East, I ask the governments and peoples of the world to care for and support the Kurdish people in Syria, the same people who, with their armed women and their democracy, knew how to stop the fundamentalist fascism of the Islamic State of the Levant."

Istanbul Bar Association demands investigation for murdered journalists

Stating that targeting journalists in conflict zones is a violation of international conventions, Istanbul Bar Association demanded an effective investigation into the incident and announced that they will follow the process.



ANF
ISTANBUL
Saturday, 21 December 2024,

The Istanbul Bar Association made a statement on journalists Cihan Bilgin and Nazım Daştan, who were killed in a Turkish UCAV attack in northern Syria.

The statement emphasised that the targeting of journalists in conflict zones is a violation of International Humanitarian Law and the Geneva Convention and said: “Moreover, the targeting of civilians who are not parties to the war is expressed as one of the war crimes in Article 8/2/b/ii of the Rome Statute. Therefore, the rules regarding the protection of journalists working in armed conflict zones are within the scope of International Humanitarian Law. Again, during the press statement to be held in Şişhane Square regarding the aforementioned incident, four members of our Bar Association, two law faculty students and dozens of journalists were detained.”

The statement continued: “It is unacceptable that members of the press and our colleagues who are exercising their constitutional rights and mourning for their colleagues are detained while an immediate investigation into this incident, which violates international law, should be launched and those responsible should be held to account. We demand an effective investigation into the killing of two members of the press and the immediate release of those who were detained after making a press statement exercising their constitutional rights, and we respectfully announce to the public that we will follow the process.”

Several people, including journalists, detained in police attack on demo for murdered journalists

Istanbul police attacked a demonstration for murdered journalists Nazım Daştan and Cihan Bilgin and detained many journalists, party and institution representatives.



ANF
ISTANBUL
Saturday, 21 December 2024, 

Dicle Fırat Journalists Association (DFG), Mesopotamia Women Journalists Association (MKG) and DİSK Basın-İş promoted a demonstration at Şişhane Square in Istanbul to make a press statement for Kurdish journalists Nazım Daştan and Cihan Bilgin who were killed by Turkish drones in Rojava on Thursday. Representatives of many political parties and civil society organisations took part in the action.

While the police blockaded the area, the crowd protested the obstruction, chanting “Free press cannot be silenced”. A number of people were taken into custody during the crackdown.

The detained journalists are as follows: Rozerin Gültekin, Ferhat Sezgin, Melik Çelik, Pınar Gayıp, Enes Sezgin, Osman Akın, Hayri Tunç, Yadigar Aygün, Serpil Ünal, Zeynep Kuray, Mustafa Subaşı, Saliha Aras, Gülistan Dursun, Elif Bayburt, Umut Taştan and Rojdan Erez.

The detained politicians, lawyers and representatives of civil society organisations are as follows: Dilek Başalan and Newroz Ünverdi from Women's Time Association, Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) Istanbul Provincial Executives Samet Ayas and Haci Ugiş, DEM Party Bayrampaşa District Co-Chair Ramazan Yavuz, DEM Party Esenler District Co-Chair Mehmet Önal, DEM Party Ümraniye District Co-Chair Ayten Bingöl and Serbülent Çiçek, Fethiye Kaçmaz, Fesih İlhan, Selin Top, Feride Eralp, Rüya Kurtuluş, Newroz Tuğçe Özçelik, lawyer Sidar Perçin.

No comments: