Turkey Murders Press TV Reporter Serena Shim

Author: 
Stephen Lendman
Locality: 
Summary: 
police state

Turkey Murders Press TV Reporter Serena Shim

by Stephen Lendman

Turkey reflects rogue state governance. It's a NATO member. Part of Washington's war on Syria. Partnering with US crimes.

Training Islamic State fighters. Doing so covertly on its territory. Smuggling them lawlessly cross-border against Assad. Stop NATO founder/editor Rick Rozoff said earlier:

"If confirmation was required that a neo-Ottoman Turkey is determined to reassert (its regional) influence gained 700 years before and lost a century ago and…doing so as part of a campaign by self-christened global NATO to expand into the Arab world, the Turkish head of state's threat to militarily intervene in Syria with the support of its 27 NATO allies should provide it."

Reporters Without Borders calls Turkey the world's largest prison for journalists for good reason. Press freedom is verboten. It's nonexistent.

No country imprisons more journalists. An atmosphere of fear prevails. Widespread arrests follow. No one's safe.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ):

Turkish authorities wage "one of the world's biggest anti-press campaigns in recent history."

"Dozens of writers and editors are in prison, nearly all on terrorism or other anti-state charges. The evidence against them? Their journalism."

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan imprisons journalists "on a mass scale." He delplores free expression. He tolerates none.

Censorship is official state policy. Pro-Kurdish news is called terrorism. Kurdish journalists are especially vulnerable.

Many face charges of participating in anti-government plots. Others for belonging to outlawed political groups. Belonging to the wrong ones risks imprisonment or death.

Officials say news coverage creates societal chaos. Conducive to coup plotters, they claim. Allegations made to bring charges. Spurious ones follow.

In recent decades, dozens of Turkish journalists were murdered. Anyone criticizing government policy is vulnerable.

Ankara tolerates no dissent. Extrajudicial assassinations are commonplace. Human and civil rights are non-starers. Rogue states operate this way.

London-based political analyst Shabir Hassan Ali said Shim was "assassinated by the government of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan."

She "was hounded...by Turkish intelligence." She reported truths Ankara wants suppressed.

On October 19, Press TV headlined "Press TV reporter in Turkey killed in suspicious car accident, saying:

It occurred "near the Turkey-Syria border. (She) was killed on Sunday as she was on a working mission in Turkey to cover the ongoing war in the strategic Syrian town of Kobani."

"She was going back to her hotel from a report scene in the city of Suruç in Turkey's Urfa Province when their car collided with a heavy vehicle."

"The identity and whereabouts of the truck driver remain unknown." The motive is clear. Ankara wanted her silenced.

Dead correspondents tell no tales. Ones rogue Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan wants suppressed.

Shim was a 30-year old Lebanese American. She reported from Lebanon, Iraq, Ukraine, and Turkey. She covered Obama's war on Syria. Partnering with Ankara. Using proxy IS fighters.

She operated from Suruc in Urfa Province. A rural area near Syria's border.

On October 17, she said Turkish National Intelligence accused her of spying. "Probably due to some of the stories (she) had covered about Turkey’s stance on the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militants in Kobani," she said.

She reported IS fighters covertly smuggledcross-border into Syria. On trucks bearing NGO markings. She had images proving it, saying:

"We were some of the first people on the ground - if not the first people - to get that story of…militants going in through the Turkish border…"

"I’ve got images of them in World Food Organization trucks. It was very apparent that they were militants by their beards, by the clothes they wore, and they were going in there with NGO trucks."

She expressed fear about what Ankara "might use against her." Perhaps arrest her or worse.

She was killed returning to her hotel with her camerawoman, Judy Irish. A heavy vehicle smashed into her rental car. Ruthlessly enough to kill her. Irish was hospitalized with injuries.

Press TV called her death "suspicious…Just a couple of days ago she had been threatened by Turkish intelligence."

News director Hamid Reza Emadi wants Turkey "to find out exactly what happened."

No details were released. Including the truck driver's identity. Turkey called Press TV's claims "completely baseless. (A)ttempts to put Ankara in a difficult situation."

Shim was one of the few correspondents reporting accurately from the region. About Turkey in league with Takfiri extremists. Smuggling them cross-border against Syria.

Partnering with Washington's crimes. Its imperial agenda. A reliable US stooge.

Deploring peace. Breaching rule of law principles. Waging war on freedom. Suppressing vital truths.

Wanting Assad removed. Going all-out extrajudicially to do so. Wanting pro-Western puppet governance replacing him.

On October 21, Press TV reported a memorial service held in Lebanon in Shim's honor. A "heartbreaking scene filled with tears, pain and grief," it said.

Family members "in anguish." Saying she sacrificed her life telling important truths. Ones Turkey, Washington, EU partners and regional rogue states want suppressed.

Her "father was speechless," said Press TV. Her friends explained her important work. How much it meant to her.

Telling Press TV viewers what they most need to know. Real news and information. Polar opposite scoundrel media rubbish.

"Serena left behind two beautiful children, Ali and Ajmal," said Press TV. Ages 2 and 4.

Her "tragic death has left pain and sorrow in all our hearts," Press TV added. "Her family is calling on the Turkish government to provide answers over the circumstance leading to her death."

"At the same time, they say, Serena's death has brought pride and dignity to the family."

She died doing what she loved best. Reporting important truths for Press TV world viewers.

She knew the risks. She took them. Honorably. Forthrightly. No matter the cost. She paid the price. The ultimate one. She's sorely missed.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

It airs three times weekly: live on Sundays at 1PM Central time plus two prerecorded archived programs.

Add new comment

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
To prevent automated spam submissions leave this field empty.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Image CAPTCHA
Enter the characters shown in the image.