Journalist Aziz Köylüoğlu was killed in a Turkish attack on 27 January in Ranya district of Silemanî city in the Federated Kurdistan Region. Köylüoğlu, who was born in 1976 in Xana Axpar district of Amed (Diyarbakır), waged an uninterrupted struggle for 32 years. Köylüoğlu, who was arrested three times in Turkey in 1996-1998, continued his journalistic activities in the Federated Kurdistan Region in 2000. After the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2013, Köylüoğlu travelled there to follow the developments in North and East Syria and followed Turkey's attacks on Efrîn, Grê Spî and Serêkaniyê in 2018-2019. Köylüoğlu worked as a reporter, editor, manager, commentator and educator in the free press during his 32-year struggle.

 

Describing Aziz Köylüoğlu, with whom she worked for a long time, journalist Beritan Zagros said: "We had known each other for a long time, we had a good but difficult time together in the South. However, no matter how difficult the work, war and conditions are, when you have comrades like Aziz by your side, you can face all kinds of obstacles and difficulties. Even if he did nothing, his presence gave a positive energy and confidence to the environment. He was a natural teacher. In particular, he paved the way for the innovation and development of his profession and his friends to the end, if he could support them, he would do it, if he could not support them, he would remove the obstacles in front of them. Because of this feature, he was loved and respected by everyone."

 

 

Beritan Zagros added, "In all his work as a journalist, he gave importance to the struggle against occupation and betrayal, and always tried to create the spirit of patriotism in every Kurdish individual. We worked together with him especially in Southern Kurdistan, and all his work was in the context of exposing the Turkish occupation, the collaborators and presenting the idea of a free Kurdish people. Because of this characteristic, everyone in Southern Kurdistan loved and respected him very much."

 

Stressing that Köylüoğlu was deliberately targeted and emphasised that his struggle exposed the occupation and betrayal in the region, Beritan Zagros said, "We said that in a place where there is occupation, oppression, corruption and betrayal, there is a lot of effort to hide this fact from the people. For this reason, from Nagîhan Akarsel to Gülistan Tara, Hero Bahadin and finally Aziz friend was targeted. In particular, it carried out a special work for the unity of journalists from Kurdistan and for the development of a common attitude against censorship, arrests and attacks and achieved results. With the language it developed, it was able to prevent the manipulation and special warfare of the Parastin-MIT media to some extent. With its 'Bashûr Agenda' programme, it explained the realities of the South and Iraq, and became a window to learning the realities of Southern Kurdistan. After the martyrs Seyîd Evran and Nacmedîn Sala, he never left a gap in publicising the realities of Southern Kurdistan, despite all threats and attacks, he fought until the last moment of his life and did not step back. In my opinion, this is the reason why Comrade Aziz was targeted. This attack is not possible without the local intelligence of the South".

 

Beritan Zagros said that the struggle of the free press to reveal the truth from Apê Musa to Gurbetelli Ersöz has never ended. Beritan Zagros stated that journalists were targeted and murdered in a deliberate manner and said: "The only way to prevent attacks against the Free Press and journalists working in this line is to expand the Free Press network and reach out to journalists working in the line of truth. Hundreds of journalists have been murdered in Palestine, Syria and other countries in the Middle East and neither human rights organisations nor organisations that supposedly protect journalists have raised their voices. These organisations have neither fought for the rights of journalists nor for human rights, they have not reacted, they have played deaf and dumb. According to IFJ statistics, 104 journalists were killed in 2024 alone, mostly in the Middle East. However, many journalists are still missing in Kurdistan. This is a worrying statistic for freedom of thought and freedom of the press. Journalists are especially targeted in war zones. After Palestine, Kurdistan has the highest number of journalists killed. In Turkey, the Turkish state arrests Kurdish journalists and dissidents or attacks and murders them. But the most meaningful response to this is to increase the Free Press, to remove their pens and cameras."

 

REACTION TO JOURNALIST ORGANISATIONS

 

Reacting to the silence of journalists and human rights organisations against the massacre of journalists, Zagros added, "Although there are many international organisations protecting journalists, they could not prevent the attacks and massacres. Therefore, journalists should unite, unite their positions and raise the crimes committed by the Turkish state and other states against journalists and the media, work harder to enforce the existing laws if they are not enforced, and enact the necessary laws if they do not exist. In particular, it is essential that journalists and international organisations cooperate with Kurdish journalists. There is a need to increase the Free Press. The Turkish state and the KDP want to hide the truth by isolating, censoring, blocking, threatening and killing journalists, but we need to expand, spread and reverse this. If so many journalists are being arrested and killed, it is because of the lack of attitude of journalist organisations. If there was a serious attitude, Aziz friend would not have been targeted. But we will not leave his legacy of struggle on the ground and unfinished."

 

MA / Zeynep Durgut