ŞIRNEX - Reacting to the detention at the border gate of the delegation that wants to go to the Federated Kurdistan Region to receive the funerals of journalists Nazım Daştan and Cihan Bilgin, "Only the gate we are at is closed for passage," says ÖHD executive lawyer Fırat Taşkın.
A delegation consisting of families and representatives of non-governmental organizations went to Habur Border Gate in Silopi (Silopi) district of Şirnex (Şırnak) province to take the bodies of journalists Nazım Daştan and Cihan Bilgin, who were killed by Turkey's Armed Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) attack, to the Federated Kurdistan Region. The delegation, which has been kept waiting at the border since yesterday, includes Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) Mêrdîn MP Kamuran Tanhan, Dicle Fırat Journalists Association (DFG), Association of Lawyers for Freedom (ÖHD) and representatives of civil society organisations.
The delegation was kept waiting for hours at Habur Border Gate on the grounds that "the X-Ray device is out of order". After passing through the X-Ray device, the delegation was kept waiting in the passport control section. The delegation has been kept waiting since yesterday, claiming "no system".
'ONLY OUR GATE IS CLOSED'
Fırat Taşkın, executive of the Association of Lawyers for Freedom (ÖHD), who was part of the delegation, stated that the situation had turned into a prectice amounting to torture and said, "When we arrived at the border, no vehicle was waiting in front of us. However, as sson as we arrived here, the flow of the border started to stop. We have been waiting since pm yesterday. At firs we were told that there was no system, then we were told that the X-ray device was broken. The families of the journalists who lost their lives are now being punished in a different way. Only our gate is closed for crossing. We will continue to wait here until we cross the border."
Peoples' Equality and Democracy (DEM Party) MP Kamuran Tanhan said that they had been kept waiting arbitrarily for hours and called on the Foreign Minister to resign. Mr Tanhan stated that the decision to keep it on hold was political.
DFG AND DBP REACTED
Dicle Fırat Journalists Association (DFG) reacted to the denial of the funerals in a post on its virtual media account, while the Democratic Regions Party (DBP) Central Executive Committee (MYK) stated in a written statement that the obstruction was unlawful.