ADANA - Şemsiye Bağdu, describing her husband Kadri Bagdu, who was the distributor of the Azadiya Welat newspaper for 17 years, said, "He was murdered because he was a Kurd and Kurdish press was exposing the truth. They can't end the free press by killing the heroes of Musa Anter."

 

It has been 8 years since the murder of Kadri Bağdu, who was the distributor of the Kurdish newspaper Azadiya Welat, which was closed with a Decree-Law (KHK). Bağdu was killed in an armed attack while he was distributing newspapers on his bicycle in the Ova neighborhood of Adana on October 14, 2014. Bağdu, who was shot with five bullets, died in the hospital he was taken to.

 

ISIS member Servet Koç described how they committed the murder in the messages and photos he sent to Bağdu's son İsmail Bağdu in 2016, and said that they were "used" by the state. However, no progress was made in the investigation file. Adana Chief Public Prosecutor's Office evaluated the murder as a "judicial case" in October 2020. An application was made to the Constitutional Court (AYM). However, no response has been received from the AYM yet.

 

'HIS NEWSPAPER WAS SACRED TO HIM'

 

Grieving for the last 8 years, Şemsiye Bağdu is angry t hat the perpetrators were never found. Pointing out that his murdered husband was very attached to the newspaper he was distributing, Bağdu said, "Kadri was a very devoted person. He would get up at 6 in the morning and start distributing the newspaper every day. He would work in the heat of Adana, never get tired. He was very devoted to his subscribers, his subscribers were also very fond of him. He would get very upset if he ever saw the newspaper on the ground. He used to say, "There is the blood of our martyrs in this newspaper.." His newspaper was sacred to him."

 

Stating that his husband was threatened many times, detained and followed by 2 people the day before she was murdered, Bagdu said, "Two people were waiting in front of our house on a motorbike, they were just watching the house. The motorbike was passing by the house every day, but this time it was different. In the morning, news came that he was murdered on the pavement where he always rested. The day he passed away, the weather was very cloudy and rainy, it was as if it was raining for him." 

 

'THEY CAN NOT END THE FREE PRESS BY KILLING ITS LABOURERS'

 

Noting that the perpetrators haven't been found despite 8 years have passed since the murder, Bağdu underlined that they will never forget what was done to them. Bağdu continued: "They killed thousands of Kurds like Kadri and dragged them behind their panzers. But the perpetrators of any of them could not be found. They protected the killers for years. They continue to protect them. Where in the world are journalists being killed? They were murdered just because they were Kurds and they exposed the truth. We will follow his path. Just recently, they arrested Kadri's friends for writing the truth and sent them to prison. Their only crime is to expose the truth. All we want is for Kadri's perpetrators to be prosecuted and his imprisoned friends to be released. Enough of this hostility towards Kurdish journalists. Let them stop protecting the murderers. They cannot end the free press by killing Musa Anter's heroes.” 

 

MA / Mukadder Akyol - Hamdullah Yağız Kesen