Reactions to the murder of women's rights activist in KRI
People reacted on social media to the assassination of Kurdish journalist and women's rights activist Nagihan Akarsel in Sulaimani city of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) on Tuesday.
Akarsel was a member of the Jineoloji Research Academy, founded with the objective of empowering women in the KRI.
The parliamentary group chair of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), Meral Danis Bestas, condemned the assassination of Akarsel in her speech at the Turkish Grand Assembly.
Italian Gianluca Costantini posted an illustration of Akarsel on the Web, depicting her with a big, bleeding heart.
"One of the most dangerous times to be a Kurdish woman activist"
Kurdish academic and poet Hawzhin Azeez said on Twitter:
"More murder of Kurdish women. This morning the Kurdish activist Nagihan Akarsel who was also the editor of Jineology Magazine in Sulaymani was murdered. It is one of the most dangerous times to be a Kurdish woman activist right now."
"You never accepted a 'bad end' or an 'endless despair'"
Journalist A. Rahman Gok said:
"Nagihan Akarsel, who was a colleague of mine in the news agency for years, and who I witnessed visiting villages to report on the personal stories of women during the operation in Raqqa, has been murdered. You never accepted a 'bad end' or an 'endless despair.' We will not forget you."
Dear sisters and people all over the world,
— Gianluca Costantini (@channeldraw) October 4, 2022
this morning, our friend Nagihan Akarsel was brutally murdered by gunshots in the southern Kurdish town of #Silêmanî. We condemn this feminicide which is an attack against the women's liberation struggle#NagihanAkarsel @zerocalcare pic.twitter.com/KdOP5oOeMu
"Attack against the women's liberation struggle"
Artist Gianluca Costantini:
"Dear sisters and people all over the world, this morning, our friend Nagihan Akarsel was brutally murdered by gunshots in the southern Kurdish town of Silemani. We condemn this feminicide which is an attack against the women's liberation struggle."
"Nobody should remain silent"
Journalist Meltem Oktay:
Nagihan Akarsel was once our women's news editor. We learned everything about making women's news from her. Nobody should remain silent in the face of the foul murder of a free Kurdish woman, activist and journalist.
"When your relatives tell you you should better not come back to Kurdistan soon..."
Doctoral fellow Dastan Jasim:
"When your relatives call you and tell you you should better not come back to Kurdistan soon then you know what occupation is. I have no words really."
"Act of unparalleled barbarism"
Journalist Amed Dicle:
It is an act of unparalleled barbarism to murder a woman working on jineology, a journalist, in front of her house. Turning a blind eye to it or not doing anything about it is unethical and even vile.
"KDP and PUK, what a wonderful Kurdistan you're building"
HDP deputy Murat Sarısaç:
"Her bijî(!) ["Long live"] PUK [Patriotic Union of Kurdistan] / Her bijî(!) KDP [Kurdistan Democratic Party]... What a wonderful and 'independent' (!) Kurdistan you are building; a place that AKP-MHP, the enemy of the Kurdish people, turned into a Kurdish graveyard."
