Turkish drone kills two Kurdish journalists in northern Iraq, officials say

Two Kurdish journalists were killed in northern Iraq when their vehicle was hit by a Turkish drone.

Gulistan Tara and Hero Bahadin were driving in Seyidsadiq district of Sulaymaniyah province on Friday when their vehicle, belonging to CHAT production company, was hit.

The two were working for Sterk TV, a Kurdish-language broadcaster founded in Norway in 2009.

Kemal Heme Reza, General Director of CHATsaid in a statement that “the Turkish state undoubtedly carried out this attack” and accused local officials of coordinating the attacks on the journalists with Turkey.

An Iraqi security official also told AFP on condition of anonymity that they had been hit by a “drone that probably belongs to the Turkish army.”

The Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) counterterrorism agency said a high-ranking member of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), his driver and a security guard were also killed in the attack.

However, KRG Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani denied this, calling Friday's attack an “unjustifiable crime” and a “blatant violation of Iraqi sovereignty.”

Dozens of civilians killed

Turkey has intensified its activities in northern Iraq in recent years, reportedly targeting members of the PKK, an armed group at war with the Turkish state.

According to monitoring groups, hundreds of villages in northern Iraq have been evacuated and numerous civilians have been killed as a result of Turkish military operations.

However, the Defense Ministry in Ankara told AFP that it was “not the Turkish army” that carried out the attack on Friday.

The deaths came just over a month after another journalist, Murad Mirza Ibrahim – an employee of the Kurdish media company Cira TV – was also killed in a drone strike.

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Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemned the killings and said the KRG had become an increasingly hostile environment for journalists due to Turkish drone strikes and increasing repression by the authorities.

“With the deaths of three journalists in just two months, the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan is becoming one of the most dangerous areas in the world for reporters,” said Jonathan Dagher, head of RSF’s Middle East desk.

“The Turkish authorities must be held accountable: the Turkish Defense Ministry's denial is not enough. Kurdish journalists must be safe and Hero Bahaden and Golistan Tara must receive justice,” he said.

Iraqi politicians have regularly condemned Turkish attacks on Iraqi territory as a violation of sovereignty. However, both Baghdad and some politicians in the Kurdish Regional Government have also intensified security coordination with their northern neighbor in recent months.

At the beginning of August, Turkey agreed to a military cooperation pact with Baghdad, which provides for joint training and command centers to combat the Kurdish guerrillas. In March, the government declared the PKK a “banned organization.”

The Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM), a left-wing, pro-Kurdish party in Turkey, also condemned the attack.

“We know full well that the attack on a vehicle carrying journalists was a deliberate and organized attack,” it said in a statement.

“By targeting female journalists, attacking the Kurdish people and women in the [KRG]Attempts were made to cover up war crimes committed in the region.”