Protests erupted across several Kurdish-majority regions on Monday, condemning the killing of Kurdish journalists Gülistan Tara and Hêro Bahadîn by Turkish forces in Iraqi Kurdistan’s Sulaymaniyah (Silêmanî) city. Demonstrators accused Turkey of attempting to silence the free press and deepen its control over Kurdish territories.
In Adana, the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party and the Free Women’s Movement (TJA) led a protest where participants carried banners declaring, “Free Press Cannot Be Silenced.” Despite police attempts to disrupt the gathering, the DEM Party’s Adana Co-chair Helin Kaya criticised the Turkish government’s policies. “The attack on these journalists is a deliberate and organised effort to cover up war crimes and further Turkey’s expansionist ambitions in Kurdistan,” she said.
Kaya also highlighted that such attacks aim to suppress the international outcry against Turkey’s actions in the region. “The goal of this assault is to deepen annexation policies and stifle international reaction,” she stated, urging solidarity against the ongoing violence.
Similar protests were held in other cities, including Van (Wan), Iğdır (Îdir) and Mardin (Mêrdîn), where activists condemned the killings and accused the Turkish government of targeting Kurdish women and journalists. In Van, TJA activist Edibe Babur denounced Turkey’s actions as an extension of its colonial and expansionist agenda, accusing the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of complicity. “The KDP must cease its collaboration in these crimes against the Kurdish people,” she urged.
Protesters in Mardin, led by TJA spokesperson Hatice Öncü, called out the killings as part of a broader strategy to eliminate Kurdish resistance and suppress women’s achievements in the region. Beritan Güneş, a DEM Party MP, warned, “These attacks are not isolated incidents. Turkey and the KDP are attempting to commit genocide against the Kurdish people in Başur and are trying to silence the free press to hide these atrocities.”
