A Turkish drone attack claimed the lives of journalists Hêro Bahadîn and Gülistan Tara and left 6 other press members wounded in Seyidsadiq district of Sulaymaniyah city on 23 August 2024. Journalist Gülistan Tara trained many journalists in North and East Syria and left behind a great mark with her death.

Women journalists who received education from Gülistan Tara told ANHA about their experiences.

Loristan Derwêş, who has been working as a reporter for Jin TV since 2019, said that she first met Martyr Gülistan Tara when she started working and learned journalism from her.

‘Thanks to her, I learned about the reality of women’

Stating that Martyr Gülistan Tara had a big heart, Loristan Derwêş said that she made people love life and work with her intellectual and vocational education. Loristan Derwêş said, “She enabled me to recognise the personality, purpose and truth of women. She was persistent in achieving her goal. Martyr Gülistan had a great determination to succeed. She conveyed this determination to her students and had a sincere dialogue with those around her. I continue my work on this basis. We will teach the new generations what Martyr Gülistan taught us.”

‘We will follow her path’

Zozan Remedan, member of the Jin TV Office Management in the Euphrates Canton, said the following: “We met with Martyr Gülistan Tara in 2018 and worked together. Martyr Gülistan was a very good friend and a very good teacher for us. She was a pillar of the press for women. She made great efforts for us to reach this stage. That is why one is speechless when talking about her labour. Martyr Gulistan helped us in every difficulty we faced. We carry out our work with this strength. We get all our strength from the pioneers of the Free Press. Now we need to see ourselves more responsible. We will share all the facts of the occupiers with the society moment by moment. We promise that we will follow the path of Martyr Gulistan, write and be the eyes and voice of truth.”

Gülistan Tara

Journalist Gülistan Tara was born on 24 January 1983 in Batman, Northern Kurdistan. As a woman who grew up in a patriotic family subjected to the violence of the occupying Turkish state, she started to fight for the freedom of her people in 1999 at the age of 16. She had been working for the Free Press since 2000. With her work in many fields in the Free Press for more than 20 years, she became the voice of truth, the oppressed, women and the people everywhere.