An umbrella organization of Turkish journalists staged a one-day live broadcast in Istanbul to commemorate their counterparts killed in Israel’s attacks in the Gaza Strip and to protest the killings.
Anadolu Publishers Federation (AYF) organized the event next to the historical German Fountain in Sultanahmet Square on Saturday. The event, scheduled to end later on Sunday, brought together journalists speaking about the rights of journalists in conflict zones. Prominent journalists took turns to speak out against Israeli brutality on the stage adorned with the inscription, “We stand guard for the journalists killed in Palestine.”
The head of AYF, Sinan Burhan, told Anadolu Agency (AA) that with support from Türkiye’s Communications Director Fahrettin Altun, the broadcast is not politically motivated or affiliated with any party. He said, “140 of our journalists have been martyred or killed in Palestine. What were these journalists doing? They were the voice of the Palestinian people. They were exposing Israeli state terrorism to the world.” Altun connected to the program by telephone and said: “Türkiye has always stood by the rightful cause of Palestine, consistently supporting innocent civilians and the innocent Palestinians. Here, there is an effort to obscure the truth, a systematic effort to conceal it, and those who resist this systematic effort are journalists on the ground, engaged in a rightful struggle,” he said. He stressed despite facing numerous obstacles, threats and attempts on their lives, journalists continue to “uphold the integrity of journalism, elevating its status in media history.”
“Indeed, Israel’s propaganda management closely resembles the fascist propaganda tactics they supposedly reference and demonize as backward,” he added.
Muin Naim, a Palestinian researcher and journalist, called recent events in the Gaza Strip the “worst journalist massacre in history.” He noted that even in major conflicts like World War I and II or Russia’s attacks on Ukraine, not as many journalists were killed, accusing Israel of deliberately targeting journalists.
Israel killed at least 103 journalists since Oct. 7, according to the Reporters Without Borders (RSF). The number of media workers killed by Israel in approximately three months exceeds the total count of journalists killed throughout the entire six-year span (69) of World War II, according to the Freedom Forum, a Washington-based foundation advocating for press freedom. In comparison to Gaza, during the 20-yearlong Vietnam War (1955-1975) 63 journalists were killed while 17 media workers lost their lives in the three-year-long Korean War (1950-1953). According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) based in New York, in the war between Russia and Ukraine that started in February 2022 and has been ongoing for about two years, a total of 17 journalists have lost their lives. In Gaza, however, the issue is not only murder but how Israel has also targeted their immediate families.
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