ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and a London-based journalists’ union urged on Tuesday for an investigation into the recent killing of two Kurdish journalists in Sulaimani province as a result of a suspected Turkish drone attack.
Journalists Gulistan Tara and Hero Bahadin from Sterk TV were killed in a suspected Turkish drone strike near Said Sadiq, east of Sulaimani, in the Kurdistan Region on Friday. At least another journalist was also injured.
"We call on both the Kurdistan Regional Government and the Iraqi government to deploy maximum efforts, both through diplomatic or other means available, to put pressure on the Turkish government to prevent such violations committed by the Turkish army against journalists and civilians,” said the IFJ in their statement on Tuesday.
It also urged both Baghdad and Ankara to “conduct prompt investigations into the killings of the two journalists and bring the perpetrators to justice.”
IFJ Secretary General Anthony Bellanger was cited in the statement as saying that the killing of both Kurdish journalists “reflects the extreme dangers faced by journalists working in conflict zones and highlights the urgent need for immediate measures to ensure their safety and hold those responsible for these crimes accountable.”
The National Union of Journalists (NUJ), which represents a union of journalists in the United Kingdom and Ireland, said it joins in IFJ’s call for Iraq and Turkey “to launch an immediate investigation ensuring perpetrators responsible are held accountable.”
The attack also has drawn criticism from Iraqi and Kurdish politicians, civil rights activists, and press freedom advocates. The Iraqi parliament’s foreign affairs committee condemned the attack in a statement on Friday.
Turkey had not commented on the deadly strike at the time of publication. Late Wednesday morning, Turkey claimed responsibility for the killing of one of the two journalists, referring to her as "one of the alleged leaders" of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), Turkish state media reported, citing intelligence sources.
Yeganeh Rezaian, Committee to Protect Journalists’ (CPJ) interim MENA program coordinator, said on Friday that “Turkish authorities should swiftly investigate this attack and determine if the reporting team was targeted for their work.”
Updated at 12:13 p.m. with the Turkish state media report.
