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Turkish Journalists Missing In Syria

by Laura Stuart
Wednesday, March 14th, 2012

Missing in Idlib

Adem Özköse left and his camerman Hamit Coşkun right are missing in Syria. Adem works for Gerçek Hayat magazine as their Middle East reporter. The magazine says they have had no contact with Adem or Hamit who is only 21 and a student at the Istanbul faculty for communication, for the last five days. Adem and Hamit were in Syria to make a documentary.

Since September 2011 eight journalists have been killed whilst reporting in Syria where the Syrian uprising against Bashar al Assad has turned into a bloodbath with Assad turning his army on the protesters. Because of the role that Syria plays in the region there are outside forces with opposing interests some to keep Assad in place and some wanting him removed, the legitimate rights of the Syrian people to bring changes to their country are forgotten as they are used as pawns to further the interests of International players.

After Bashar al Assad’s forces brutally suppressed the uprising in Homs the target has moved to Idlib a city near the Turkish border. Today there are reports of houses being shelled and sprayed with machine gun fire. One report says that people trying to leave the area were killed and their bodies put in a mosque, when people tried to get to the bodies they were also killed.

The estimated number of deaths in Syria is over 8,000 and more than 230,000 Syrians have fled as refugees. Presumably to try and stem the flow of refugees crossing into Turkey, a few days ago Syrian forces mined the border area.

Adem Özköse who is aged 34 and from Samsung, was a participant in the Viva Palestina 3 convoy which travelled from London to Gaza in 2009/10 and also a passenger on the Mavi Marmara as part of the Freedom Flotilla in May 2010. All of us in the Mavi Marmara and Viva Palestina family are praying for their safe return.

UPDATE Adem and Hamit were released following negotiations with Iran, they were flown to Tehran where they were met by Bulent Yildirim from IHH, from there they were flown back to Turkey to be met by their families, officials from the Turkish government and IHH.

 

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Posted by on March 14, 2012. Filed under Arab Spring. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

7 Responses to Turkish Journalists Missing In Syria

  1. Somoe

    March 14, 2012 at 3:58 pm

    It is particularly interesting that so many journalists are being killed or disappear, as they would be the people with a real insight into what is really going on there. As you might expect, given my previous comments on this matter, I disagree with quite a few of your points. There is little proof here to back up your assertion that it is Assad’s forces killing civilians in Homs and other cities in Syria, as opposed to the mercenaries who have been hired to damage the Syrian government’s standing in the middle east.

    Syrians themselves have been saying that the opposition forces are the ones who are doing the killing and the army is simply trying to combat these terrorists and restore a semblance of order.

    I think that in your passionate desire to see Islam assume a majority rule in the middle east, you have become blinkered to the reality of the Syrian conflict. These so-called ‘uprisings’ in Libya and Syria have the all the hallmarks of false-flag events and given your research abilities, one might have expected more from you in revealing the truth, rather than going with the ill-informed impression that the mainstream media wants people to have – that Assad’s regime wants to massacre his own people to suppress protestors. Many of the people being killed are not even protesting, just going about their daily business!

    Lets get real and call for an end to this killing – How about supporting Assad’s forces in ejecting these terrorists from Syria?

  2. Laura Stuart

    March 15, 2012 at 5:58 am

    http://www.habereditor.com/news_detail.php?id=83138

    News that they might be held by an Alawite tribe and handed over soon.

    Regardless of outside agents who may or may not be operating in Syria, the main killing has been done by Assad unless you think Blackwater and Mossad agents entered Syria in tanks.

  3. Laura Stuart

    March 15, 2012 at 2:36 pm

    Adem Ozkose and Hamit Coskun, the two Turkish journos who went missing last week in Idlib reported to be held by #Syria army. Hamit wounded.

  4. Laura Stuart

    March 16, 2012 at 2:35 pm

    The BBC is reporting the following :-

    Two Turkish journalists are currently missing in Syria, and are reportedly in the hands of the security forces.

    Some reports say they have been wounded and tortured.

    I really hope not as the Syrians have one of the worst reputations for torture.

  5. Somoe

    March 17, 2012 at 12:09 pm

    It is difficult to assert with any certainty the motivation of forces I am not connected with – however, there are always 2 sides to any conflict. Reporting of events such as these requires a balanced perspective that does not make one-sided assumptions about the intention…

    “Presumably to try and stem the flow of refugees crossing into Turkey, a few days ago Syrian forces mined the border area.”

    The mining of the border could equally be perceived to be a deterrant to rebel forces that have retreated to bases in Turkey

    “The latest wave of arrivals included a defecting general who crossed the border to join the rebel forces which have a base in Turkey’s Hatay province on the border with Syria, according to Unal.”

    It is important to remember that the rebels have been receiving explosives, armaments and ammo from external backers and that they are not your usual freedom fighters. Yes – Assad may have employed tanks to fight the rebels but i have seen no evidence that they have been used against the civilians. They haven’t used airstrikes which are far more destructive and indescriminate and killed so many when NATO ‘liberated’ the Libyan people from Gaddaffi’s rule.

    My suspicions are raised when I read of staged witness accounts, supposedly from Syria’s front line and of death counts that keep shifting.

    http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2012/03/07/caught-complete-cnn-syria-interviews-staged-by-activist-danny-91231/

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLe7Hqqfe6s

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DX64FLP0aPY

    There is plenty of evidence to suggest that we are experiencing a concerted effort to make us feel that there is dire humanitarian need to save the Syrian people from tyrannical rulers. However, all govts have their opposers, and these opposers appear to have very devious means of acquiring the sympathies of the populace.

    http://www.activistpost.com/2011/11/un-report-on-syria-based-on-witness.html

    There are questions to be answered regarding this matter and i don’t think it is as black and white as it is made out to be in the mainstream. I really want to know the truth but don’t feel that one-sided assumptions will help us in that goal. I think that journalists could aid the process of arriving at the truth by ensuring they make all efforts to put aside preconceived notions based on the past and give a balanced account of actual evidence.

  6. Laura Stuart

    March 17, 2012 at 12:29 pm

    As I did say before there are too many big players involved for the mere human beings in Syria and their safety to be an issue. Syria has been described as the best regime to provide good information aquired by torture, I think that was in Wikileaks. Not a good place to be for my journalist friends, its all very worrying. Despite ongoing problems in Egypt and Libya I have not met a single Egyptian or Libyan who would wish to return to Mubarak or Gaddafis leadership.

  7. Laura Stuart

    May 8, 2012 at 10:19 pm

    They are free at last, I have no details as yet but they are safe Alhamdulilah.

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