Emma Audrey, a French journalist working in non-profit independent media, joined a delegation to investigate the deaths of Kurdish journalists Gulîstan Tara and Hêro Bahadîn, who were killed when a Turkish drone targeted their vehicle travelling to shoot a cultural television programme in Sulaymaniyah (Silêmanî), Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) on 23 August. In this exclusive Medya News interview, Audrey shares her chilling observations from the drone attack site, noting critical evidence left undocumented and disregarded.
Meeting family and colleagues of the murdered journalists formed a critical part of the visit, Audrey said, explaining how Kurdish journalists are repeatedly targeted by the Turkish military in Iraqi Kurdistan. Recounting the pain and grief of the community, Audrey shared the sense of injustice shared by local journalistic and local governmental institutions.
Audrey, who is an active member of the National Union of Journalists (SNJ), the largest journalists’ trade union in France, was horrified by the lack of coverage of the murders in the international media. Hoping to spread awareness, she joined the mission which took place from 6-10 October, organised by the Kurdistan Women Journalists’ Union (ROJIN).
Read her moving account of the visit below, or watch the interview in full.
Medya News: Can you introduce yourself? What is your journalistic background?
Emma Audrey: My name is Emma Audrey. I work for independent, non-profit media, focusing on human rights. I work for Radio BIP, an FM station, and Media 25, a media channel of the same organisation. This is one side, and on the other side I’m very active in the union of journalists, the second largest union in France, called SNG CJT. It’s a union fighting for the freedom of journalists, the security of their jobs and their general security. So that was the second hat I had when I went into this mission.
You recently joined a delegation to Suleymaniyah (Silêmanî) in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). Can you tell us about the reasons why you joined the delegation?
Well, the first reason was the security of journalists. When I heard about the terrorist act and the killing of those two journalists and a third being heavily injured, it was very disturbing because not only did I hear about this one month after the event, but I didn’t have any information about it from any mainstream media in France. So, of course, Reporters without Borders talked about it and IFG, so a few organisations talked about it but only shared very short texts about the situation.
And I was quite frightened by this. How could two journalists be killed in a drone strike, inside another country, and no one talk about it? So, the first reason was that and the second reason was that I thought it’s important to bring the voices of the families, the colleagues from Suleymaniyah, from the media there like Chatr Media Production, to France. So that we can share their pain bring their questions to the French public. It’s important that everyone in France understands the situation there and understands how difficult it is for the Kurds, especially for Kurdish journalists, to live there, being targeted all the time by the Turkish military.
When you went to Suleymaniyah, you also visited the place where the journalists Gulistan Tara and Hêro Bahadîn were killed by a Turkish drone strike. When you visited the site of the attack, what kind of observations did you make there?
The first thing that I saw was that they chose the spot to kill them. It was not a random spot to kill them, they had chosen the spot. It was an empty spot, they didn’t want any second casualties, so they waited for them to get out of the city to kill them. So that’s the first technical observation I made.
Another technical observation that I saw was that the missile of the drone strike left residues that can be linked to the missile of a drone. It’s an easy link to make for an expert on this kind of weaponry. They can clearly see the link.
And I was even more appalled to see that elements from this terrorist act were still there. Why didn’t the police take this? This is technical proof of persecution, why is this proof still there one month after? There are so many questions. In fact, the more we stayed there, the more questions came up. Why weren’t these residues cleaned and sealed and presented to the judge? And of course, elements of the missile were still around. I mean, this is unthinkable in any country.
So, a lot of questions. I’m not saying that they are not doing their job there, but it was a very important question. Why was the driver forced to say it was an accident at the beginning? It was not an accident, so there are a lot of questions.
The second thing, because we are journalists and we look at the details to try to understand things better, was the human side of when we went there and saw the catastrophe, the black spot on the floor where two young women and journalists were killed in a second by a foreign nation.
For me, it was very painful to see and very emotional, and also very emotional to see their colleagues and friends crying there because they felt the pain of this act. I don’t have the words to say how much I hate this kind of act. It was something that made me understand the situation better, it was very important to go on-site and to see and understand.
And to talk to people – we took some testimonies. Some people who saw everything came to us and talked to us, so I managed to film a little bit about what they said and perhaps this will also be proof and can be used as a testimony in front of a judge of an international court to talk about this terrorist act.
You also met lots of friends of killed journalists Gulîstan and Hêro when you were visiting Sulaymaniyah. Many stories and memories were shared with you along the way, which touched you most?
The most powerful, painful and emotional moment was when we went to the family of one of the journalists. The pain was very important, and I was very touched by everything, about their struggle to seek justice. Of course, it’s important to seek justice, have justice in this case, and understand that they are not alone.
And I also felt that everyone, all their colleagues, were very close to them. When her mother took me in her arms – she didn’t know me, but she took me in her arms – and started to cry and it was one of the most important moments for me when I was there.
And of course, seeing the colleagues when we went to Chatr Media Production. The sight of all the team crying. This was their wider family, and this family lost their two children. This is what I felt when I went there, and it was very difficult to see all this pain. And at the same time, it’s really important to see it and to understand it.
During the trip to Sulaymaniyah, you visited journalistic institutions including several television studios. What did you learn about the role women have in these institutions?
I was very positively surprised by these meetings, and I felt like they were light-years ahead of us in France or Europe in general about the feminist issue and the way they implement this feminist issue in society and their workflow.
When we went to TV Chatr Production, someone said to me, “You know women here are managing this? This is managed by women.” They have a big role in society, and not only do they have a big role but they are also respected for both what they are doing and what they are as women.
And for me, this was like, ‘Let’s learn something. Let’s bring this to France. Let’s try and do this revolution of the mind here in France, too, because to get there, or partially get there, you need to make a revolution somewhere. A revolution of the mind, of the society, of everyone. Not only of the men but of the women, too.’
It’s something that has already been done, even though they of course keep working on these issues, but it’s working and it’s working beautifully. I was very impressed with how they manage feminist issues. But on the other side, I felt like everyone working there works in a role linked to their identity.
When you talk to them, they are journalists, but they are not saying that they are just journalists, they are journalists because they want to be the voice of this nation and of this identity. And this link and powerful message was very impressive to see. I was quite impressed.
Is there anything else you would like to share? Any message you want to give?
I have a lot but let’s say first that I just want to thank everyone that I met on this mission and everyone that we talked to. They were so welcoming and open-hearted and we had such a tremendous connection with everyone. It was so beautiful.
On one side, it was very emotional because going there for this kind of thing is very difficult. But on the other side, I saw that they transformed this into a fight for justice, a fight for a better society.
The death of these journalists didn’t kill their voices. It amplified their voices and their messages. And that’s the thing that we need to understand and that everyone needs to understand. When they kill journalists, they don’t only kill the human being, but they try to kill millions of voices who are reading and watching the news and the information. This is our mission as journalists.
But in this case, they didn’t kill those voices, in this case they amplified those voices. It is going to be everywhere, international, in Europe, everywhere. And this is my message to the criminals who did this. You can try to do this, because it’s easy for you to push on a button and kill two people, two human beings who are just trying to exist, trying to share information for the people.
They were taking their car to see something cultural. It’s mind-blowing, mind-boggling. How can you kill someone who is going to film dances and chants and other parts of their cultural identity? That’s who you killed. And this is the message that I want to send in fact in the end. That the criminals who killed these people will have to pay because this is the definition of a terrorist assassination.
Whatever they think, you cannot just press a button and make two people disappear and the problem is solved. No. Now the next step would be to make them pay and to make everyone understand that this cannot just be some small event in the sea of events. No. It’s not going to be this way. This is what I feel now and want to say.
