The body of Gulistan Tara, the Kurdish journalist killed in a Turkish drone strike near Sulaymaniyah (Silêmanî) on 23 August, was received with a massive crowd as it arrived in Silopi via the Habur border crossing.
After a ceremony in Sulaymaniyah (Silêmanî), Tara’s body was taken to Silopi, where she underwent an autopsy at the Şırnak Forensic Medicine Institution. Her coffin was then taken in a convoy of hundreds of vehicles to Batman (Êlih) for burial.
Her arrival was greeted with chants of “Jin Jiyan Azadî” (“Women, Life, Freedom”) and “Bimre îxanet bijî Kurdistan” (“Down with treason, long live Kurdistan”).
In a powerful gesture of solidarity, women carried Tara’s coffin to honour her lifelong commitment to women’s freedom and the Kurdish liberation movement. However, the police intervened and attempted to restrict access to only Tara’s immediate family and the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) MPs, preventing the larger crowd from entering the burial site.
This police attack sparked clashes as mourners resisted the repression. In the scuffles that followed, DEM Party MPs Zeki Irmez and Sabahat Erdoğan Sarıtaş were reportedly assaulted by police.
Despite police interference, the women carrying Tara’s coffin, along with her family, managed to reach the cemetery and lay her to rest. Following the burial, mourners decorated her grave with carnations and placed a camera there as a symbol of her journalistic work.
During the funeral, Tara’s brother, Ahmet Bulent Tetik, addressed the crowd and reflected on her legacy: “The path of free journalism is a sacred one. We have seen the dedication of Gulistan’s comrades to her memory, both here and in Sulaymaniyah”.
Zeynep Oduncu, an MP for the DEM Party, also spoke at the gravesite, paying tribute to Tara’s work and the wider struggles of journalists in the region. “We have seen at first hand the difficulties our colleagues in the Kurdistan Region are facing and the challenges the free press is facing. This latest attack by the AKP-MHP government is a stark example of their attack on our people. At the same time, women remain their main target. As women fighting for justice, we will continue this struggle.”
Tara’s other brother, Mustafa Mesut Tekik, pledged that their fight for peace in the region would continue: “As Gulistan’s family and comrades, we vow to the Kurdish people that we will continue our struggle until peace comes to these lands.”
