Thirty Kurdish Journalists Killed Amid Syria’s Conflict, Honored as “Martyrs of Free Press”

December 24, 2024 – Kurdistan/Syria –

In North and East Syria, 30 Kurdish journalists have lost their lives since 2014 while covering the region’s battles, including the fight against ISIS and ongoing Turkish military operations. An article published by Hawar News on December 24, 2024, lists each of their names—many members of the YPG/YPJ media units and Hawar News Agency—capturing how these reporters risked and often sacrificed their lives to document resistance and human rights abuses.

This list includes pioneers like Mazloum Bakok, killed in 2014 during efforts to open a humanitarian corridor, and recent victims such as Cîhan Bîlgîn and Nazım Daştan, who both died in December 2024 when Turkish drones struck near the Tishrin Dam south of Kobani. Their work ran the gamut—from frontline war reporting to revealing civilian tragedies under siege—often under direct threat from shelling, landmines, suicide bombings, and drone warfare by ISIS affiliates and Turkish forces.

Their passing has not gone unnoticed. At Kurdish Journalism Day on April 22, 2025, held annually in Qamishlo, the Free Media Union and ANHA agency hosted an event displaying photos of 31 deceased journalists (including one beyond the original 30), highlighting the pressing role women and men journalists have played in chronicling regional struggles. The ceremony included a minute of silence and awards named after prominent fallen journalist Mazloum Bagok, cementing their legacy with the motto, “We pledge to follow in their footsteps.”

The sacrifice of these journalists—from the early campaigns in Kobani to the recent losses inflicted by drone strikes—underlines the brutal reality of frontline reporting. Their deaths illustrate how media personnel are increasingly caught and killed in conflicts that modern warfare has intensified with sophisticated weaponry. The Kurdish press, seen as “soldiers of words and images,” has paid a high price for ensuring that their people’s suffering, resistance, and quest for self-determination reach the outside world.

Their story stands as a stark reminder that journalism, particularly in war zones, demands not only skill but extraordinary courage—and that each fallen reporter leaves a story untold.

Reference –

https://hawarnews.com/en/martyrs-of-free-press-30-journalists-sacrifice-their-lives-for-truth