APOLOGIES BY THE “HIGH-PROFILE WITNESS” OF ‚PEACE IN KURDISTAN“ LONDON

An apology to Mr Massoud Hamid  / By Karlos Zurutuza – 8.5.2015

Dear Editorial Staff of Kurdistan Tribune,

I would like to publicly apologize to Mr Massoud Hamid for claiming that he wrote this statement which Reporters Without Borders published on 1 May.

In a previous letter, I identified Mr Hamid as the author of the statement, which deals with alleged abuses against Syrian news providers in areas controlled by the Democratic Union Party (PYD). I had already read it when a source I shall not name forwarded me the link, adding that Mr Hamid was its author.

I had the pleasure to work with Mr Hamid last autumn. Thanks to his good access to opposition members, I published a long feature on Kurdish opposition movements inside Syrian Kurdistan (“An opposition within the opposition” http://msur.es/2013/11/14/kurdistan-siria-oposicion/)

Before I wrote my previous letter, I gave Mr Hamid a call to confirm that he was the person who wrote the report. His English is almost as poor as my French so I admit that, influenced by the email I had received, I thought he said, “I was the author” when he was actually saying he was not the author.

I received proof of my error in the form of a call from the head of RWB’s Middle East and North Africa Desk, Ms Soazig Dollet, assuring me that RWB, not Mr Hamid, was the author of the above-mentioned statement. “Massoud Hamid was not even informed that such a statement was in the pipeline,” Ms Dollet told me.

I hope this matter is now clear to everyone, and that Mr Hamid’s credibility has not been affected by my mistake and unprofessional behaviour.

Sincerely, Karlos Zurutuza