# Cevdet Kılıçlar

Cevdet Kılıçlar (5 May 1972 – 31 May 2010) was a Turkish journalist and photographer from Kayseri. He had been a correspondent of the daily newspaper Anadolu'da Vakit. He was an aid worker and responsible for website of The Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief (Turkish: İnsan Hak ve Hürriyetleri ve İnsani Yardım Vakfı). He was married to Derya Kılıçlar and had two children, Gülhan and Ali Erdem. He was killed in the Gaza flotilla raid.

## Life

Cevdet Kılıçlar was born in Kayseri in 1972, to mother Hatice and father Hüseyin. He completed primary and secondary education in Pınarbaşı, high school education in Adana and graduated from Marmara University's Faculty of Communications.

### Umut Operation

Following graduation he worked as journalist for an Islamist daily newspaper Millî Gazete and then an Islamist weekly newspaper Selam. Selam newspaper, which was the publishing organisation of Tevhid Selam, was claimed to be supported by Iran and known its intimacy with the Welfare Party and Turkish Hizbullah. And after the beginning of "Umut Operation" related to the assassination of Uğur Mumcu, on 8 May 2000, as the press coordinator of Selam, he announced that there has been no relationship with the former administrators of Selam for three years after February 28 process. However, on 9 May 2000 Selam was raided by Turkish security forces and banned. Because of increasing pressure from the Turkish government he was forced to go to Germany.

### To Palestine

After turning back from Germany to Istanbul he worked as correspondent and editor in chief for Islamist daily newspapers Vakit. He was a correspondent in the Palestinian territories and Egypt.
In March 2008 as the correspondent of Vakit newspaper, he was staying in Egypt to cross over into Palestine. When he took the picture of wall built by Egyptian government, near the Rafah Border Crossing, he was arrested and interrogated by Directorate of Military Intelligence Services and Reconnaissance of Egypt (Egyptian military intelligence service) for five hours.

## Death

He participated in Gaza Freedom Flotilla as the webmaster for IHH and foreign press coordinator. According to Turkish investigation, he was killed by a single distant shot to the middle of the forehead by Israel Defense Forces's commandos while taking photographs for the IHH on Mavi Marmara ship during Gaza flotilla raid.
The IHH president Fehmi Bülent Yıldırım said:
   "Our Cevdet, he is a press member. He has become a martyr. All he was doing was taking pictures. They smashed his skull into pieces. We soon made out that these were real bullets they were firing. Rubber bullets also kill because you shoot at very close range, between one-and-a-half and two meters."
His funeral service was held at the Beyazit Mosque in Istanbul on 4 June 2010. And after Salat al-Janazah he was laid to rest in a coffin at Edirnekapı Martyr's Cemetery beside the grave of Metin Yüksel, who was one of leaders of Akıncılar.
Demetre Plionis, a Greek activist abroad Mavi Marmara said: “A half hour after the attack, despite electronic warfare, the “Mavi Marmara” ship continued to broadcast images on the internet thanks to a sophisticated system run by a Turkish volunteer. Then, I saw him dead after he was shot in the head.” referring to Cevdet Kılıçlar. “The broadcast was discontinued when the person who was running the network was killed,” he added.
The Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova condemned the killing of Kılıçlar, stating, "I trust that an inquiry that meets international requirements will shed light on the events that led to Cevdet Kılıçlar's death and to the injuring of Indonesian cameraman Sura Fachrizaz."
Ankara Municipality renamed 1433. street at Ankara's Çukurambar neighbourhood to his memory as "Şehit Cevdet Kılıçlar Sokağı".

## Sources

* ↑ Rotamız Filistin Yükümüz İnsani Yardım Filosu Özet Raporu, p. 33. Archived 21 August 2010 at the Wayback Machine (in Turkish)
* 1 2 3 4 "Atalay, Gazeteci Cevdet Kılıçlar’ın öldürülmesini kınadı" Archived 20 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Basın İlan Kurumu Genel Müdürlüğü (Directorate General of Press Advertisement), 4 June 2010, Retrieved 21 June 2010. (in Turkish)
* 1 2 "Cevdet Kılıçlar'a..." Archived 7 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Millî Gazete (National Newspaper), 4 June 2010, Retrieved 21 June 2010. (in Turkish)
* ↑ "Silah değil, fotoğraf çekmişti" Archived 17 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Hürriyet, 5 June 2010, Retrieved 21 June 2010. (in Turkish)
* ↑ "10 metre uzaktan lazerle vuruldu" Archived 24 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Takvim, 3 June 2010, Retrieved 21 June 2010. (in Turkish)
* ↑ "Bahattin, Faruk, Cevdet ve diğerleri..." Archived 9 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Millî Gazete, 6 June 2010, Retrieved 21 June 2010. (in Turkish)
* ↑ "Cevdet Kılıçlar için ne dediler" Archived 25 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Millî Gazete, 18 June 2010, Retrieved 21 June 2010. (in Turkish)
* ↑ "Sincan’daki 2. cephanede ABD malı C-4" Archived 6 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine, NTV-MSNBC, 16 May 2000, Retrieved 22 June 2010. (in Turkish)
* 1 2 "Selam, İran destekli" Archived 25 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Hürriyet, 9 May 2000, Retrieved 21 June 2010. (in Turkish)
* ↑ "Umut Operation" an abbreviation of "Uğur Mumcu Uzun Takip Operation": begun by State Security Courts of the Republic of Turkey on 6 May 2000.
* ↑ "Kimseyle ilgimiz yok" Archived 4 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Yeni Şafak, 9 May 2000, Retrieved 21 June 2010. (in Turkish)
* ↑ Bedirhan Toprak (ed.), Cumhuriyetiin 75 Yılı Ek (1998-1999-2000), Yapı Kredi Kültür Sanat Yayınları, İstanbul, July 2002, ISBN 975-08-0448-1, p. 75. (in Turkish)
* ↑ Şükrü Hüseyinoğlu, "Şehidin Arkadaşı Olmak" Archived 16 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine, İslam ve Hayat, 11 June 2010, Retrieved 21 June 2010. (in Turkish)
* ↑ "Şehid Cevdet Kılıçlar, Yarın Beyazıt'ta Hakka Uğurlanıyor" Archived 7 April 2014 at the Wayback Machine, İsra Haber Ajansı (Isra News Agency), 3 June 2010, Retrieved 21 June 2010. (in Turkish)
* ↑ "VAKİT muhabirine 5 saatlik sorgu" Archived 2 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Vakit, 14 March 2008, Retrieved 21 June 2010. (in Turkish)
* ↑ USAK Analysis: Turkey's final report on the deadly May 31 Israeli Attack Archived 31 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine
* ↑ "İsrail'de hayatını kaybeden gazeteci toprağa verildi" Archived 16 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Cumhuriyet, 4 June 2010, Retrieved 21 June 2010. (in Turkish)
* ↑ "Israel killed more than 9, threw wounded into sea, witnesses say" Archived 6 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Today's Zaman, 3 June 2010, Retrieved 21 June 2010. (in English)
* ↑ "Ortak acı ortak öfke" Archived 10 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Milliyet, 4 June 2010, Retrieved 21 June 2010. (in Turkish)
* ↑ "FLOTILLA: Greek Witness: Israeli Forces killed Turkish Activist to Stop Media Broadcast", Intifada Archived 10 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine, 8 June 2010, Retrieved 21 June 2010. (in English)
* ↑ Communication and Information Sector's news service, UNESCO, 15 June 2010, Retrieved 21 June 2010. (in English)
* ↑ "Gazze şehitlerinin ismi Ankara'da yaşayacak". Haber7. 13 August 2010. Retrieved 19 December 2010.