Syrian activist, daughter found dead in Turkey
Reporting from ANKARA, Turkey — A Syrian activist and her journalist daughter have been killed in their home in Istanbul, Turkish media reports said Friday, the latest victims of attacks targeting Syrian activists in Turkey.
The bodies of 60-year-old Arouba Barakat and 22-year-old Hala Barakat were discovered late Thursday, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported, after friends worried that the journalist hadn’t showed up for work alerted police.
Homicide officers were investigating the deaths. There have been four previous killings of Syrian journalists in Turkey; the Islamic State group has claimed responsibility. A fifth journalist survived two attacks.
According to Syrian opposition activists’ pages on social media, Arouba was a member of the Syrian National Council. She had backed the uprising against Syria’s president but also criticized some arms of the opposition.
Her daughter was a journalist working for the opposition’s Orient News. Earlier this year, she took part in a talk titled “Russia destroyed Syria.â€
Anadolu said the women were stabbed. The Hurriyet newspaper quoted an unnamed neighbor as saying the women were found with their throats slit.
The media advocacy group Reporters Without Borders has called on Turkey’s government to protect Syrian journalists in exile in the country.
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