Kurdistan Journalists Syndicate Syria issues a statement on the 121st anniversary of the Kurdish press

121 years on the day of the Kurdish press
The Kurdish press in the service of the people

ARK News: Kurdish media celebrates the twenty-second of April each year the anniversary of the publication of the first Kurdish newspaper called “Kurdistan” on the hand of the character of the unique Kurdish Miqdad Midhat Badir Khan, who said in an article in the first issue of the newspaper: (I set in mind the goal of establishing the interest in the affairs of the people of the Kurdish national education and give the opportunity to recognize the civilization of the age and its progress .. I do not want to publish this newspaper even remotely, but to serve the interests of my people and happiness and raise the cultural level of my country).

Today, we celebrate the Kurdish press, and we know that the Kurdish media does not have the great potential, and does not spend its huge budgets as in other countries because of the uniqueness of the Kurdish situation and the lack of purely Kurdish economic environments, thus the media and media men were neglected as well as many of the activities of political life, economic and cultural Kurdish.

In Syria, the media was not a day free. It remained under Baath rule for many years, and it focused its attention on turning the individual president into a "hallucination" and greatness, the profession of journalism and journalists were violated, the regime was put in place and during the decades of weak people in the ranks of responsibility with the intent to hit the profession of the press and deliberately, and when the protests began in Syria, and when protests began in Syria, the regime and the rest of the armed groups targeted the press and journalists.

There are numbers which talking about the martyrdom, arrest, expulsion, and exile of dozens of colleagues, both documented by the regime or the rest of the parties to the conflict in Syria. Although the hand of the regime has been somewhat curtailed in some areas, and some newspapers, magazines, and radio have been issued.

In Kurdistan of Syria, it seems that the situation of the media is affected by the situation in Syria, which is in constant decline. The self-management looked at the media and the Kurdish media from the angle and level of loyalty to this administration, so that there are daily violations against the media and media.

It seems that the media institutions affiliated with this administration do not care about the local or international documents issued on the oppression and injustice inflicted on the Kurdish media in Kurdistan of Syria, and Kurdish media men do not enjoy enough protection for their work or their lives.

We call on the self-management authorities to provide full protection to Kurdish journalists and in all their places of residence, regardless of their affiliation by virtue of being a de facto authority, and we ask them to disclose the fate of the colleague Farhad Hamo a member of the Council of Journalists Syndicate of Kurdistan - Syria, and news is still broken despite the elimination of the terrorist organization of Da’esh in Baghouz recently.

We hope that our colleagues will be released whether they are detained by the Syrian regime or the local authorities that control some areas in Syria, including the authority of the Democratic Union Party in Kurdistan of Syria.

We, in the Council of the Journalists Syndicate of Kurdistan - Syria in this occasion to salute the spirit of the Kurdish press freedom Joan Mirani, the first head of the journalists Kurdistan of Syria, and this year we have awarded the Joan Mirani Award to the Kurdish press for our female colleague.

Let the Kurdish press serve the people.
Council of Journalists Syndicate of Kurdistan - Syria
22-4-2019

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