JINHA

BATMAN –Two armed menthreatened JINHA's Batman reporter Zeynep Akın with a weapon yesterday evening.

JINHA's Batman reporter, Zeynep Akın, was waiting to meet with a news source yesterday evening around 8 p.m. when two men, one around 18 and the other in his twenties, approached. Zeynephad been drinking tea in the park, but had moved to a shady place to escape the heat.

"They came up to me and said, 'It's pretty hot, isn't it? But hell is hotter. You'll be going there soon,'" Zeynep related. They harassed her for her clothing, saying she would go to hell because of it, and promised to "ransack" the cafes in the area. That was when the older attacker drew a gun from his waistband and pointed it at her, saying that no one would care if he killed her. He lowered the gun at the younger man's insistence and the two fled.

During the 1990s, when the Kurdish region was in a state of emergency, Batman, like many cities in Northern Kurdistan, hada high number of murders and forced disappearances of Kurdish civilians, politicians and journalists. The Islamic armed group Hizbullah took credit for many killings. Significant evidence points to the Turkish state's support and directing of the group. Today, the legal political party Hüda-Par, founded by former Hizbullah members, is seen as the continuation of the group.

When Zeynep called friends, they went together to investigate the nearby house Zeynephad seen the men enter. They learned that the house belonged to Hüda-Par members. Zeynep says she will file a complaint against the attackers with the local prosecutor and the Human Rights Association.

(zd/mg/cm)