A Turkish drone strike on Wednesday targeted a group of Kurdish journalists as they travelled between Qamishlo and Amuda in northern Syria, according to local reports.
The attack targeting a vehicle of women-focused Jin TV occurred near Til Şiîr village, some 15 km from the Turkish border, at about 17:00 local time, the network reported from the ground. Driver Necmedîn Faysal Hecî Sînan lost his life, while reporter Delila Agît was injured.
Turkish attacks have killed six Syrian Kurdish journalists in 2023 so far, the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) media department said in a statement condemning the strike.
“Today, an armed drone that belongs to the Turkish state targeted a vehicle carrying journalists in front of the international community, the United Nations and its Security Council. We call on the international community to intervene in the occupying Turkish state’s crimes against the region, and to hold them accountable,” AANES officials said in the statement.
Turkish drone strikes have killed journalists Seed Ehemed, Mihemed Reşo, Welat and Îsam Ebdullah in the past as they “documented atrocities against civilians in Serêkaniye and Derik”, the Free Journalists Union (YRA) said in a statement, using the Kurdish names for Syria’s Ras al Ayn and Al Malikiyah.
Turkey “sought to undermine the gains created by our revolution, the women’s revolution made possible by the sacrifice of the best sons and daughters of north and east Syria,” the Women Journalists’ Union (YRJ) said in a separate statement.
The YRJ called for international media institutions to “let the whole world know the massacres and destruction of the Turkish occupation, so the crimes can be accounted for”.
