REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS

On 16 March, Reporters Without Borders expressed their deep concern about the two Turkish journalists, Adem Özköse, a reporter for the magazine Gerçek Hayat and the daily Milat, and cameraman Hamit Coşkun, who went missing near the north-western city of Idlib on 11 March.

According to the information obtained by Reporters Without Borders, the two journalists and the Syrians who were accompanying them were abducted by Shabiha militiamen in the pay of the Assad government at a checkpoint outside Kefraya, a Shiite village near Bannish, a town just to the northeast of Idlib.

The two Turkish journalists, who had entered Syria to make a documentary, were then reportedly handed over to the Syrian authorities.

Reporters Without Borders urges the Syrian authorities to release the two journalists and their Syrian assistants. Fears have been reinforced by the information minister's statements on 9 March threatening foreign journalists who enter Syria illegally and the Syrians who help them.

On 9 March, the Syrian armed forces launched a major assault on Idlib, a stronghold of the opposition Free Syrian Army, with a reported civilian death toll of 114. The government forces now control the city but civilian casualties are said to be continuing. Communication with the city has been completely cut off.

Adem Özköse was born in Samsun on the Black Sea Coast in 1978. He is the representative of the Gerçek Hayat magazine for the Middle East.

Hamit Çoşku was born in Karamürsel east of Istanbul in 1991. He is a fourth grade student of the Istanbul University Department of Radio, Cinema and Television. He is working for several media outlets as a cameraman. (IC)

Source: Reporters Without Borders.

Click here to read the RSF press releases about the two abducted Turkish journalists and the about the communiqué of the Syrian information ministry threatening Arab and foreign journalists.