The body of Necmettin Salaz has been sent from South Kurdistan to the province of Van with great sympathy. The funeral of the journalist is to take place on Tuesday in the district of Tuşba, according to relatives. A funeral service was held in Sulaymaniyah before his coffin was sent on its way for transfer. Salaz died on Saturday at the age of 65 due to cirrhosis of the liver.

In addition to family members, the gathering was attended by numerous friends and companions as well as personalities from politics, the media and the arts who knew Necmettin Salaz personally. A video documentary about the life and work of the Kurdish journalist provided a temporary overload of emotions right at the beginning of the funeral service.

Salaz was born in Van in 1958 and graduated as a teacher from the local education institute in 1979. He had been close to leftist Kurdish movements since the mid-1970s and was arrested several times. After the military coup of 1980, he spent almost five years in the notorious torture prison in Amed (tr. Diyarbakir). After that, he was banned from public service for life and could no longer work as a teacher. Before the Kurdish party HADEP was banned, he was an advisor in the municipality of Van.

For several years, Salaz hosted the programme Başûr Gündemi (Southern Kurdistan Agenda) on Medya Haber TV and was the author of numerous articles and books on Kurdistan. Due to his illness, he had been undergoing medical treatment for a long time and was in the intensive care unit of a clinic in Sulaymaniyah the days before his death. Many speakers, including Rasan Muxtar from the Kurdsat TV station, politician and author Mihemed Emîn Pêncewînî and journalist Semira Seit reported on their personal experiences with Salaz and paid tribute to his work for the free Kurdish press.

Several messages were also read out. The Executive Council of the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) described Salaz as a revolutionary and fighter for the Kurdish cause whose loss could only be painfully borne. Bafel Talabanî, chairman of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), said that the death of Necmettin Salaz was a "huge loss" for the Kurdish media landscape and expressed his condolences to relatives. Shanaz Ibrahim Ahmed, politburo member of the PUK, also sent a message of mourning.

The coffin with Necmettin Salaz is now on its way to the Habur-Zakho border crossing and is expected to arrive in Van around midnight. Until Tuesday, the body will be kept in the Boyalar mosque, where the ritual ablution of the journalist will also be performed according to Islamic tradition in the run-up to the funeral. The funeral is to take place at Akköprü cemetery. Mourning visits will be accepted by Salaz's family on Wednesday and Thursday at the condolence house of the Old Hayretiye Mosque in the central Ipekyolu district.