Turkish press in Roboski, KDP media in Sheladizê

Like in Roboski, 10 citizens were bombed and killed by Turkish fighter jets while they were tending to their gardens in Southern Kurdistan.

Four days ago, even though no outlets except for a few Kurdish websites reported on it, 10 citizens of Southern Kurdistan lost their lives in the aerial bombing carried out by the jets of the Erdoğan-Bahçeli dictatorship.

Yes, like in Roboski, 10 citizens were bombed and killed by Turkish fighter jets while they were tending to their gardens.

Avashin is a wonderland with green waters, in the Sheladizê town of Southern Kurdistan’s Amadiye province. Villagers from Rêkan and Nêrwê in the Avashin region were targeted by Turkish fighter jets as they were returning from tending their gardens. When they couldn’t hear from them, their relatives went to the gardens and were met with 7 burned bodies.

Emboldened by the silence of the Regional Government in the face of this massacre, the Erdoğan-Bahçeli dictatorship carried out an aerial attack against Horê villagers tending their gardens in the rural areas of the Avashin region the day after, killing 3 and increasing the total death toll to 10. Since July 15, 2015, 20 civilians have been massacred in the aerial attacks carried out in Southern Kurdistan by the Erdoğan-Bahçeli dictatorship.

Of course all Kurds know very well that the Erdoğan dictatorship is an enemy to Kurds in all four regions, and this massacre was ordered by him personally like in Roboski. We know from the bitter history of Kurdistan that wherever Kurds make a decision outside of the colonialists’ will, they face death warrants. But what about those who still refuse to see this, and carelessly consider Erdoğan a friend to the Kurd, censoring his massacres?

The night the Turkish fighter jets bombed the region, KNN and NRT television networks and RojNews and ANF news agencies rapidly reported on the bombing and announced the massacre to the world. Other than these, no news agency or television in Southern Kurdistan reported on the massacre, let alone attempt to create awareness. They ignored the bodies brought to the Sheladizê hospital, they turned away from the cries of the people there. Television networks and news websites created with millions of dollars unabashedly continued to report stories on Erdoğan, who was the one responsible for the attack, as primary news. Let’s accept that these are the televisions and agencies of a few political parties, but didn’t the workers there feel bad at all for the screams rising from Sheladizê?

The Regional Government belatedly woke up to the reality of Erdoğan and condemned the attack of the Erdoğan state - 3 days after the massacre. With the condemnation by the regional government, KDP’s media was able to half-heartedly report on it. What can be said about these cohorts who focus solely on the opposition in Southern Kurdistan, who slander the Rojava revolution through the ENKS, who want to revive Erdoğan’s depleted legitimacy in the name of Kurdishness?

Still they want to tie the massacres in Rêkan, Nêrwê and Horê to PKK’s presence in the region, and hide and whitewash Erdoğan’s stance against Kurdish independence and freedom. But, looking at the timing of the massacre, it is clear who the message is for. These Erdoğan volunteers who claim to be Kurdish journalists and still try to fragment the Kurdish unity through anti-PKK animosity have been exposed for all that they are with the massacre in Sheladizê.

These groups are not the least interested in the gains made by the Kurdish people, or the pain suffered, only care about the dollars they pocket. For everything else? They are “blind, deaf, mute and in cahoots!” - worse than the Three Monkeys. The sceptical can look at what the villagers of Rêkan and Nêrwê say about these people. As a Kurdish journalist, I must say that I am ashamed of the situation the Southern Kurdistan version of the partisan press have put themselves into.

It reminds me of the Turkish media’s situation at the time of the Roboski massacre. Early in the morning, as the free media and the leftist/socialist media loudly reported on the massacre, as foreign press picked the stories up and published them as primary news and headlines, the Turkish media was frozen. News outlets were waiting for permission from the government.

And what about you? Were you also waiting for Erdoğan to greenlight the reporting of these news?