Modern warfare is strongly linked to propaganda through the media. With lies in the media, the hegemonic powers try to intimidate, discourage and twist the truth. In order to cover up war crimes, journalists are often deliberately attacked. Its aim is to isolate the reality of the war from the outside world.
In the year 2024 alone, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) recorded 122 murders of journalists. Of those, 77 — more than half — were in the Middle East. These are just the official numbers. It must be assumed that the actual number is much higher. The high number is no doubt heavily influenced by the war in Palestine. Most of the killings were caused by Israeli airstrikes. Many of the attacks also killed family members and children of Palestinian journalists. But other parts of the world, particularly Sudan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Ukraine and Mexico, also have high numbers of murdered journalists.
A fact that is not widely reported in the international media is that in 2024 alone, five Kurdish reporters and truth-seekers were killed in targeted airstrikes by the fascist Turkish state. These targeted attacks had not been carried out by crude artillery, as in many of the other cases, but were explicit executions by advanced war technology of a NATO state. This shows how much the Turkish state, but also NATO, are afraid that the truth of the war in Kurdistan will come to light. Because the journalism of Murad Mîrza, Gulîstan Tara, Hero Bahadîn, Cîhan Bilgin and Nazim Daştan told the truth about the war crimes that the fascist Turkish state commits in Kurdistan day after day.
It should also be mentioned that, in the official numbers, 14 of the 122 journalists were women. Women work in journalism with a different perspective. The rate of sexual crimes, rape and abuse in war zones is extremely high. Because every war is based on a patriarchal mentality. Therefore, women who document the truth about such patriarchal war crimes, but also the great resilience of women and the people, are targeted.
Amun Abdullahi Mohamed from Somalia, Maria Vilma Rodriguez from the Philippians and Hanan Adam from Sudan were all killed in targeted attacks by faceless men. The attacks on the Kurdish women Gulîstan Tara, Hero Bahadîn and Cîhan Bilgin were also planned and targeted. This shows that the attacks on women journalists are motivated by a male mentality.
The sexist system of domination does not accept women who set out on the path of truth. Because women’s reports unmask it in all its brutality. Our responsibility is to channel our anger at these atrocities and to also set ourselves on the path of truth. Nowadays, the camera is like a weapon. Those who master their art can achieve world-changing successes. Therefore, as young women, more than ever before, we should feel the responsibility within us and, whether with pen, camera or microphone in hand, follow in the footsteps of these courageous young women.
It is the women of the Middle East who carry out their missions as seekers of truth, who risk being arrested or murdered because they know how valuable accurate reporting is. Especially in North Kurdistan (Turkish-occupied) and East Kurdistan (Iranian-occupied), thousands of women journalists are behind bars for their work. Furthermore, women in journalism are often persecuted and threatened. But this is no reason to be discouraged, it is an encouragement to their comrades, and all the more to us, to continue the fight for the truth. The Kurdish journalist Awaz Elî, was injured in a Turkish drone strike in Tishreen, North-East Syria on January 8th, 2025. Just a short time after her treatment she was laughing and showing the victory sign into the camera. The dynamism of these young women journalism in particular is unstoppable, and therefore a fundamental pillar in the fight against the propaganda and media war all over the world.
