Skip to main content
CNN

2 Turkish journalists missing in Syria

From Anna Ozbek, CNN
updated 5:21 AM EDT, Thu March 15, 2012
Turkish journalist Adem Ozkose (left) and Hamit Coskun are missing in Syria, according to the Milat newspaper.
Turkish journalist Adem Ozkose (left) and Hamit Coskun are missing in Syria, according to the Milat newspaper.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Adem Ozkose and Hamit Coskun were last heard from Saturday
  • Turkey is seeking information from Syrian authorities
  • The Syrians "have not been able to confirm anything," a Turkish official says

Istanbul (CNN) -- Two Turkish journalists who were covering news and shooting a documentary in Syria are missing, Turkey's Milat newspaper said Wednesday.

Adem Ozkose, a columnist and war reporter for Milat and the Middle East correspondent for Gercek Hayat magazine, was working for both publications in Syria, the newspaper said in a statement.

He and freelance cameraman Hamit Coskun were last heard from on Saturday, said Turgut Alp Boyraz, a member of the newspaper's foreign editorial board. The two, who went to Syria about 11 days ago, notified the paper on Saturday they had arrived in Idlib in northern Syria, the paper said.

"Their relatives have not heard from them," Boyraz said. "We are all worried about them."

Child survives family's slaughter in Syria
Zakaria: Syria more complex than Libya
Syrian rebel stronghold of Idlib seized

Turkey's Foreign Ministry said it immediately instructed its offices to contact Syrian authorities "to formally ask about the whereabouts or any kind of information they might have about these two journalists," spokesman Selcuk Unal said.

"We are in touch with both the journal and the families. So far, Syrian authorities in Damascus have not been able to confirm anything," he said.

Turkey's consulate general contacted the governor's office in Aleppo on Tuesday night, he said, but "we have not heard anything concrete back."

ADVERTISEMENT
Part of complete coverage on
Syrian crisis
There's more to the Syrian civil war than rebels versus the regime. Syria's neighbors in the Middle East also have a stake in the conflict.
updated 5:13 PM EDT, Thu May 9, 2013
Israel is taking steps to defend itself against threatened retaliation from Syria after claims it launched airstrikes on Damascus.
updated 12:36 PM EDT, Tue May 14, 2013
Domestic political will is a necessary for intervention and polls show Americans are reluctant to support military interventions in Syria.
updated 1:38 PM EDT, Mon May 6, 2013
Syria's claim that Israel launched airstrikes presents a dangerous escalation of Israel's involvement in Syria's war, writes Fawaz Gerges.
updated 5:41 AM EDT, Tue May 7, 2013
The U.N. says a Syrian rebel group may have used a nerve agent -- it would not be the first time the al-Qaeda-affiliated group used chemical weapons.
updated 2:00 PM EDT, Wed May 1, 2013
Having willfully avoided direct military involvement in Syria for the past two years, Obama may not be so lucky anymore, writes Aaron David Miller.
updated 5:44 AM EDT, Fri May 10, 2013
What began as a protest movement became an uprising that metastasized into a war, a vicious whirlpool dragging a whole region toward it.
A devout man prays. A fighter weeps over a slain comrade. These are a few faces of the Syrian conflict captured by photographer LeeHarper.
updated 4:59 AM EDT, Thu April 25, 2013
A group of pro-Syrian regime hackers that has targeted major news organizations but its cyber attacks can have real-life impact.
updated 6:24 PM EST, Thu March 7, 2013
A woman participates in a demonstration in support of the Syrian people on July 7, 2012, in front of the Pantheon in Paris.
The role of women in Syrian uprising is little reported, but many have played a key part as activists and medics since the bloodshed began.
Are you in Syria? Share your stories, videos and photos with the world on CNN iReport, but please stay safe.
ADVERTISEMENT