Human Rights Association (IHD) Amed (Diyarbakır) Branch stated that the applications for bringing the funerals of journalists Nazım Daştan and Cihan Bilgin, who were killed in North and East Syria by Turkey's UCAV attack, to Turkey have not been responded. Amed IHD Branch made a post on the issue on its virtual media account X.

 

'NO RESPONSE TO APPLICATIONS'

 

IHD statements reads: "The families of journalists Cihan Bilgin and Nazım Daştan made an application to our association demanding that their funerals be brought to Turkey for the burial of their relatives.  Our branch applied to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Human Rights Investigation Commission of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) on 24 December 2024 and to the Consulate General in Erbil on 05 January 2025 for the bodies of Cihan Bilgin and Nazım Daştan to be brought to Turkey and handed over to their families, but we would like to state that we have not received any feedback from the relevant institutions regarding the applications we have made during the intervening period.

 

In order to fulfil the same request, a delegation including family members of Cihan Bilgin and Nazım Daştan, MPs, lawyers and journalists wanted to cross to the Federated Region of Iraqi Kurdistan on 06 January 2025 to bring the bodies to Turkey, but the delegation was not allowed to leave Turkey claiming that the X-Ray device at the border gate was not working.

 

'END THE PROCESS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL TORTURE'

 

As IHD Amed Branch, we state that every citizen has the right to be buried according to their beliefs and traditions, and that citizens who have lost their relatives have the right to mourn within the scope of this right, and we demand that the relevant authorities take action to bring the bodies of Cihan Bilgin and Nazım Daştan to Turkey by ending this process, which has turned into psychological torture, as soon as possible."