Journalist Gulistan Tara was killed in an armed drone attack carried out by the Turkish state on 23 August near the Seyîtsadiq district of Sulaymaniyah (Silêmanî). She was laid to rest in her hometown of Batman (Êlih).

Gulistan Tara’s remains were greeted with the slogan “Şehid namirin” at the Habur Border Gate, and brought to Batman after the autopsy procedures at the Şırnak Forensic Medicine Institute were completed.

The coffin was accompanied to the neighborhood of Tilmerc, where she was buried, by a convoy of hundreds of vehicles. The women carrying Gulistan Tara’s body wanted to take her to the Tilmerc Cemetery but the Turkish police attacked the people. It was requested that only Gulistan Tara’s family and members of parliament be allowed into the cemetery with her body. The people responded to the police who attacked them with the slogans “Human dignity will overcome torture” and “Şehid namirin”.

While the body was being taken inside the cemetery, DEM Party MPs Zeki Irmez and Sabahat Erdoğan Sarıtaş were beaten by police. The family and the women who were able to enter by showing resistance buried Gulistan Tara. Carnations and a camera were left on Gulistan Tara’s grave.

Speaking at Tara’s grave, her brother Ahmet Tetik said: “The path of the free media is a sacred path. We saw Gulistan’s devotion to the memory of her comrades. We also saw the devotion of our friends to Gülistan in Sulaymaniyah.”

DEM Party MP Zeynep Oduncu said: “We saw the conditions under which our friends work in the the Kurdistan region of Iraq and the difficulties experienced by the free press. We witnessed one of the most obvious examples of the AKP-MHP government’s attacks on our people in the final stage. On the other hand, the government’s target is always women. They are looking for ways to kill women. We will also increase our struggle as the successors of struggling women. Jin Jiyan Azadî.”

Addressing the people waiting in front of the cemetery after the burial, Gulistan Tara’s brother Mustafa Mesut Tekik said: “We present our thanks to our people living in the four parts of Kurdistan, who have shown solidarity with us and embraced our martyr. As the comrade and family of Gulistan and her friend, we promise the Kurdish people. We will continue to fight until peace comes to these lands.”

Condolences will be accepted at the Roza wedding and meeting hall in the neighbourhood of Pazar Yeri.