Three journalists face up to eight years in prison for their coverage of Kurdish reporters Nazım Daştan and Cihan Bilgin's killings in northern Syria in a reported drone strike last month.
Gerçek Gündem Editor-in-Chief Seyhan Avşar, T24 Editor-in-Chief Doğan Akın, and T24 Managing Editor Candan Yıldız are charged with "spreading misleading information" and "making terrorist propaganda."
The İstanbul prosecutor's indictment claims Daştan and Bilgin were “terrorist organization members” who were "neutralized" in counterterrorism operations. Reporting their deaths as killings by security forces constitutes a criminal act, according to the charges.
T24’s article, published on Dec 20, reported on a statement from the Dicle Fırat Journalists Association regarding the deaths of Daştan and Bilgin. The statement noted that the journalists were killed by an airstrike on the road between the Tishrin Dam and Sirin in northern Syria while covering developments in the region.
Two Kurdish journalists killed in suspected Turkish drone strike in northern Syria
The article, which included no editorial commentary, also cited a condemnation from the Press Workers’ Union of Turkey (DİSK Basın-İş), which stated, “We condemn attacks targeting journalists. Those responsible for the deaths of journalists in conflict zones in Palestine and Syria must be held accountable before the law.”
Avşar, in her social media posts following the incident, expressed her frustration over the lack of reaction. “Since yesterday, I’ve been struggling to process this. Two of our journalist colleagues lost their lives after being bombed. Politicians are silent, journalists are silent, NGOs are silent,” she wrote. “Does defending someone’s rights require them to share our views or style of journalism? According to whom are we ‘terrorists’?”
Daştan and Bilgin were killed last month while covering clashes between the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) in Syria’s north.
In the past two years, several Kurdish journalists have been killed in Turkish drone strikes in northern Iraq and Syria, where Turkey operates against Kurdish armed groups. The Turkish government has remained silent on most of these cases. (HA/VK)
