Roj Bash Kurdistan

Journalist trapped and injured while reporting in besieged Kurdish town dies

New York, February 24, 2016--A news editor for the Kurdish-language daily Azadiya Welat, who had been trapped with a gunshot wound in Cizre since January 22, has died. Authorities used DNA testing to identify the remains of Rohat Aktaş, local reports said today. The exact circumstances of his death are unclear. Pro-opposition and pro-Kurdish media reported that government forces denied medical treatment to those injured in clashes in the southeastern Kurdish town.

"We call for an immediate and independent investigation into the death of Rohat Aktaş, including into reports that he and other injured individuals were trapped in a building and denied medical treatment," CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Nina Ognianova said. "The information blockade the Turkish government imposed on Cizre and other areas in southeastern Turkey makes it impossible to independently verify information from the region. Any obstructions on reporting must be lifted."

Aktaş was shot in the arm while reporting on efforts to help those wounded during clashes between Kurdish separatists and Turkish forces, his editor, Zeynel Bulut, told CPJ earlier this month. Turkish forces fired on the group, according to Bulut and news reports. Aktaş was trapped in a basement with dozens of others and the newsroom lost communication with him in late January, Bulut said. Turkish pro-government media claimed that the people trapped in Cizre were terrorists and that separatists had prevented ambulances from helping the injured.

https://cpj.org/2016/02/journalist-trap ... ng-in-.php

R I P Rohat Aktaş

Anthea: Even after Rohat Aktaş was shot he continued to send messages

In one of Rohat's last messages from the basement - he mentioned that the people there were having problems breathing - there was no fresh air - the people suffocated

NRT

A Kurdish journalist was killed in a town in the southeast of Turkey during a Turkish military campaign there, a branch of PEN International reported on Thursday (Feb. 25)

The Kurdish Center of PEN International announced in a statement sent to NRT that the chief editor of the Kurdish-language daily Azadiya Welat, Rohat Aktas, was killed in Cizre on Wednesday (Feb. 24).

According to PEN International, he was killed by Turkish forces in the town of Cizre.

PEN International sent a separate statement to NRT expressing concern over the death of Aktas in Cizre and urged authorities to investigate the killing of the chief editor.

“PEN International is deeply saddened and disturbed to learn of the death of Rohat Aktas, editor and journalist for the Kurdish-language daily Azadiya Welat. He was killed while reporting from Cizre in Sirnak Province in the southeast of Turkey,” the statement read.

In a statement sent to NRT, PEN International described their organization stating, “PEN International promotes literature and freedom of expression. Founded in 1921, PEN International connects an international community of writers from its Secretariat in London. It is a non-political organization which holds Special Consultative Status at the UN and Associate Status at UNESCO.”

According to PEN International, Aktas went to Cizre to report on the 24-hour curfew imposed there by Turkish authorities. He was trapped in a basement with several others after he was shot in the arm.

Salil Tripathi, the Writers in Prisons Committee Chair for PEN International wrote a response to the death of Aktas as part of the statement sent to NRT. He explained, “Rohat Aktas died while trying to tell the world about the plight of wounded civilians with little or no access to medical care in Cizre. Freedom of expression plays an invaluable role, particularly in times of conflict, to allow us to understand what is happening. We call on the Turkish authorities to conduct a swift, transparent and thorough investigation into the death of Rohat Aktas and urge the government in Ankara to look for a peaceful and diplomatic solution to the conflict in southeast Turkey.”

The southeastern towns of Cizre and Silopi, bordering Iraq and Syria, and the historical district of Sur in Diyarbakir province have been under a round-the-clock curfew since December 14, 2015.

Thousands of people have left their homes in the towns. Residents complain of indiscriminate operations and say the curfews have even prevented people in need of medical care from getting to hospital.

http://www.nrttv.com/EN/Details.aspx?Jimare=5547