NEWS CENTRE - ROJIN condemned the Arab and Turkish media for complicity in the crimes of genocide in Syria and Rojava, and called on international media organisations to uphold journalistic ethics and reflect the truth.

 

The Kurdistan Women Journalists Union (ROJIN) issued a statement focusing on the agenda of North and East Syria. ROJIN condemned the Arab and Turkish press for promoting war, fuelling hatred between peoples with arguments of religious fundamentalism, sexism and nationalism, engaging in misogyny, and thus being complicit in crimes of genocide.

 

The statement said:

 

As the Free Kurdish Press and Kurdistan Women's Media, we are seeking to reach the world public with images, photographs, information and documents by following the genocidal attacks that began in Aleppo on 6 January and spread throughout North and East Syria through dozens of reporters and press outlets in the field. The footage and documents reaching us from the region not only carry news value but also confirm war crimes.

 

Gangs treated women as “spoils of war”

 

In Aleppo, the body of Deniz Çiya, a member of the Internal Defence Forces, was thrown from the third floor of a building by gangs under the control of HTS and the Turkish state, chanting “Allahu Akbar”. Torturing a corpse is a war crime under international treaties. The same gangs forced people to flee Aleppo, kidnapping dozens, killing some, and setting their homes on fire. On 20 January, the same gangs abducted two fighters, Amara Intiqam and Narîn Axîn, members of the Women's Defence Units (YPJ) in the Dêrazor region. The gangs forcibly interrogated the abducted women and recorded them on video, treating both female resistance fighters as “booty”. On 22 January, the barbaric gangs killed five members of the Salih family who were trying to flee from Raqqa to Kobanê, and on 27 January, they killed Kurdish lawyer Silêman Ismail, who was also trying to seek refuge in Kobanê from Raqqa.

 

Aid is not reaching the region

 

While these executions and war crimes continue, many areas of Rojava have been besieged. Due to the siege in Kobanê, access to basic necessities such as water, electricity, food, and medical supplies is impossible. The humanitarian crisis is worsening. Five children have lost their lives in Kobanê due to power cuts and lack of oxygen. Tens of thousands of people forced to flee have taken refuge in Kobanê and different parts of Rojava. Emergency aid collected is also not reaching the region due to the closure of border crossings. 

 

Arab and Turkish media complicit in war crimes

 

While all these humanitarian crises and genocidal attacks were taking place, certain Arabic-language channels such as Al Arabiya, Al Hadath and Al Jazeera, along with the Turkish media pool, presented the civilian deaths and humanitarian crisis as a victory. Just like gangs, Arab television stations, which view women as “spoils” and “servants” and demonise them, broadcast with sexist codes based on hatred. On the other hand, the Turkish mainstream media, which legitimised the genocidal attacks from Aleppo to Kobanê, became an accomplice to the crimes committed by broadcasting staged propaganda. The gutter press, labelling all Kurds in Aleppo and Rojava as terrorists, has targeted all Kurds in the region, applauding war, death, massacre and genocide. These criminal acts are documented daily in newspaper headlines, TV programmes and digital media posts, and constitute war crimes.

 

All this destructive broadcasting has once again confirmed that the media, which should be broadcasting in the name of peace and freedom, in the public interest and in favour of democratic values, has become a party to the war. We denounce this media, which broadcasts from a militarist, nationalist, religious and sexist perspective, glorifying war, death, hunger and destruction, and call on the entire public to boycott it.

 

Reaction to the international media's selective reporting

 

Some international media organisations have chosen to report on events in Rojava through “selective” reporting. Ignoring the genocide, civilian executions, humanitarian crisis and forced displacement in the region, the international media chose to report on events under the headline “conflict between two powers”. The only newsworthy agenda in the eyes of the international press was “the fate of ISIS prisoners in detention centres”. Issues such as siege tactics used as a method of warfare, children freezing to death, the torture of women's corpses, the abduction of people, and the existence of gangs that have become weapons of mass destruction were not considered newsworthy. We call on the international media to adhere to press ethics and journalistic values, and to show the courage to share the truth with the public without bowing to government pressure.

 

Call for objective journalism

 

Our Kurdish journalist colleagues are risking their lives to convey the truth from conflict zones through images, documents, information and photographs. We call on the international media to respect this journalism, which is carried out with a conscience and a commitment to reporting the truth, and to engage in journalism that will stop the genocidal attacks and accurately inform the public: The news of children losing their lives due to the cold under siege is newsworthy. Women kidnapped by gangs and referred to as “booty” are newsworthy. Kobanê, which gifted the world a great victory by stopping the barbaric DAISH in 2015, is newsworthy. The Kurds in Rojava, who are being forced to their knees through genocide, starvation and displacement, are newsworthy. Sharing all these facts with the public is the ethical, professional and moral responsibility of the international media. We invite you to go to the besieged areas to observe the facts first-hand and practise impartial journalism.

 

We will continue to defend the truth

 

As the Free Kurdish Media, which has sacrificed dozens of martyrs for the sake of truth since the 1990s, we consider it our moral responsibility to broadcast live coverage of the genocidal attacks imposed on our people in Rojava. We will continue to share the truth with the public without distortion, expose crimes that are being covered up, and keep the public informed in a timely manner. We will continue to defend democratic values, coexistence, and the truth against the fuelled religious fundamentalism, nationalism, sexism, and militarism, and remind people of the language of peace.