A monument to journalists killed in the course of their work was unveiled in Azadî Park in Sulaymaniyah (Silêmanî) in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) on Saturday, 14 September. The “Guardians of Truth” memorial commemorates the 551 journalists who have paid with their lives in Iraq and the KRI since 2003 for keeping the public informed.
The names of women journalists Gulîstan Tara and Hêro Behadîn, who were killed in a Turkish drone strike in the Sayd Sadegh (Seyîdsadiq) district of Sulaymaniyah on 23 August, were included on the monument.
Qubad Talabani, Deputy Prime Minister in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), gave a speech at the opening ceremony in which he expressed his wish that “the names of the two journalists Gulîstan Tara and Hêro Behadîn, who were killed three weeks ago in the Seyidsadiq district, will be the last names written on this monument”.
The monument was built to “protect and keep alive the legacy of all journalists killed in Iraq and the KRI”, Talabani added. Stressing the dangers journalists still face in the KRI and Iraq, Talabani said that the KRG “cannot guarantee that no more journalists will be murdered in the KRI”.
