SULTAN YAVUZ- Financed by the European Union (EU) and implemented by the Association of Journalists “Media for Democracy/Democracy for Media Programme” (M4D) hosted Hilmi Hacaloğlu who did a presentation called “Journalism in Warzones”.

M4D Project Assistant Coordinator Seva Ülman Erten made the opening speech and remarked how exciting yet how dangerous it is being a war correspondent.

Erten also gave some information about Hacaloğlu “I am sure that most of you dreamed of becoming a war correspondent when first starting out in the profession. It is an extremely exciting profession but it is also extremely dangerous… Today we are hosting a guest who has been through all of this, Hilmi Hacaloğlu. Hacaloğlu graduated from St. Joseph Private French Highschool and then studied at Bosphorus University, Faculty of Science and Letters, Department of History. He started working in the profession in 1995 as HBB’s foreign news editor. He later worked for NTV, where he stayed for 13 years. During these years he worked as a war correspondent at Kosovo, Iraq and Georgia. In 2010 he produced programmes about Rwanda, Uganda, Poland and Venezuela for TRT Türk. Between June 2012 and October 2013 he produced and presented “Şimdi Söz Sizde” for SkyTürk 360. In October of that same year he assumed the position of chief editor for a programme called “32. Gün”. Hacaloğlu is currently the Istanbul representative of “Voice of America” and periodically writes for Atlas, Tarih and National Geographic.

Following the opening speech, Hacaloğlu talked about his experiences as a war correspondent. He started his presentation by showing a video of an attack in Gori where they were injured during the Russo-Georgian War, and commented “Journalists are always lone wolves”. Hacaloğlu also mentioned that being a war correspondent also affected his personal life and added “I think we are the issue here. In Iraq I had only 120 dollars in my pocket, there were two radio broadcasters from Korea who were complaining about not having enough money. When I asked them how much money they had, they told me they had 40 thousand dollars with them. Unfortunately, being a journalist in Turkey is being alone; it means to work for very little pay”.

Hacaloğlu talked about how they never received any special training before going to war zones, had no information about chemical weapon attacks, and towards the end of the war in Kosovo they spent 40 days travelling the region and how they gained their experience in war on-field. Despite not having received any special training, Hacaloğlu was able to survive in one piece “I have been attacked at least four times, and nothing happened. I protected myself, my organization and my news through experience”. He also mentioned how they never received any psychological counselling and commented “Maybe we needed it, I don’t know. The only thing I know is that I saw nightmares about war after returning from Georgia”.

I’m against embedded journalism

Hacaloğlu mentioned that he is not in favour of embedded journalism, during the Syrian war people were able to cross the border by simply running and he was able to do interviews and the main issue to have confidence in yourself.

Hacaloğlu said:

“In those moments, something happens and you are able to protect yourself. I’ve always believed in myself and promised myself “I won’t be directed by anyone”. Think about it, I ran across the border and then ran back. Nobody asked me for a passport, I published Salih Müslim’s comments and nobody said “Who the hell are you?”. I made news standing next to people in the street, without a bullet-proof vest or helmet. In Iraq, an American journalist arrived with 12 soldiers did his news piece and left. I’m against embedded journalism, I think it’s unhealthy. People don’t trust you, you lose objectivity and that’s not something I could accept. The language of the camera is political, I emphasize everywhere that I am a journalist, I do not hide the fact. If someone decides to destroy you, a vest or helmet is not going to protect you. After our incident in Georgia, the people at the TV station got angry “Why didn’t it say press on your vehicle?”. It wouldn’t have mattered, we were beaten up when people knew we were journalists, too. It’s difficult to maintain your distance; it’s even more difficult in war. But you have to do it. Journalists have nothing to do with weapons; my weapon is my pen.”

“Everyone has gotten very dirty during this period”

Hacaloğlu also commented on the situation of journalists in Turkey and criticized institutions that decide “who a journalists is, and who isn’t.” by saying “This is an unacceptable situation. Institutions or the government cannot decide on who a journalist is. Unfortunately this is killing the tradition of journalists, as well. Today, there are journalists from CHP, HDP, AKP, Fenerbahçe, Beşiktaş etc. journalists from all walks of life. What’s important is the distance between people… Nowadays journalists can’t say anything, or complain. After the 2001 crisis many people were made redundant and news centres were disbanded. Collective struggle was abolished. The tradition can’t be handed down today, but in the past there was good journalism. We shouldn’t forget this, a newspaper was precious thing. We need to re-establish this trust, everyone has gotten very dirty during this period; this is my main concern but I’m sure we will pull through. We all need to come together, take a look in the mirror and save this profession. We are getting one-sided news from Syria, for example. Nobody is going there. We shouldn’t be pessimistic, we need to carry the torch handed to us from our senior colleagues. The media is the first institution that needs to gather itself, and this responsibility is up to us.”