Journalist and writer Nuh Köklü became the target of a knife attack while playing snowball with his friends in Kadıköy, Istanbul. Köklü passed away at the Haydarpaşa Numune Hospital where he was taken.
Nuh Köklü had attended a freedom vigil organized in Kadıköy against the internal security omnibus bill in parliament. Around 10 PM he left the Solidarity House in Yeldeğirmeni, Kadıköy, with a group of friends and they began to play snowball. A shopkeeper in the area was disturbed by the game and came out and attacked the group. Köklü was stabbed in the heart with a knife when he was trying to help a friend who had fallen over.
Nuh Köklü was taken to the nearby Haydarpaşa Numune Hospital, yet he could not be saved.
The attacker is currently being held in detention at Göztepe Police Station.
Nuh Köklü was a member of the Journalists’ Union of Turkey (TGS), and acted as the workplace representative of TGS during the 2009 Sabah strike, eventually becoming one of the 10 journalists discharged because of industrial action. Köklü had also worked as editor at bianet in 2002-2003.
The Yeldeğirmeni Solidarity Group published a statement following the murder, saying, “This is a hate murder! It is the outcome of the hate towards a cheerful group of women and men playing snowball.”
A commemoration will be held at 7 PM at the entrance of Karakolhane Street where Köklü was murdered.
