ANKARA: Turkiye’s former foreign minister and distinguished Arab News columnist Yasar Yakis died on Wednesday. He was 86.
Yakis had been undergoing cancer treatment at a private hospital in Ankara for some time.
A former diplomat, Yakis served as foreign minister in the first government formed by the Justice and Development Party, also known as the AKP, in 2002. He was decorated by the Saudi government with the Order of King Abdul Aziz (1st Degree) in 1992 for his contribution to the improvement of Saudi-Turkish relations.
“At a time when global politics lacks adults in the room, heavyweights of the caliber of Yasar Yakis will certainly be missed,” said Arab News Editor-in-Chief Faisal J. Abbas.
“As a columnist for our newspaper, he always added insight, context and a rational voice to our coverage. He will be dearly missed, our condolences to his family,” said Abbas.
Yakis penned a regular column for Arab News since February 2017. He brought vast global knowledge and long years of experience as his country’s chief diplomat, as well as a deep understanding of Arab affairs.
Born in 1938, Yakis’ first posting abroad was as deputy consul at the consulate general in Antwerp, Belgium. Throughout his career, Yakis held various posts, including ambassadorships in Riyadh, Rome, Cairo, Damascus and Lagos, as well as being Turkiye’s permanent representative to NATO in Brussels. He was a senior associate member at St. Antony’s College, Oxford University, between 2012 and 2014.
In 1985, Yakis founded and chaired the Coordination Committee of the Standing Committee on Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
In 1988, he was appointed as the Turkish ambassador to Riyadh, followed by an ambassadorial post in Cairo and as permanent representative of Turkiye to the UN Office and other international organizations in Vienna. From 1992 to 1995, he was deputy undersecretary for economic affairs.
He retired from the Foreign Ministry in 2001 and entered politics as a founding member of the AKP. He served as deputy chairman and member of the Central Decision and Administration Board. He was elected to parliament in 2002 and was quickly appointed minister of foreign affairs in the same year.
Known as a prominent intellectual who was fluent in French, English and Arabic, Yakis was often quoted in the Turkish and Arabic media thanks to his objective and in-depth insights, backed by his diplomatic experience.
Yakis was often present at ambassadorial events in Ankara. He was always accompanied by his beaming wife and their unwavering love was evident to an outsider’s eye.
What struck one the most about these meetings was his attentive listening and his ability to learn from everyone, while humbly sharing his own diplomatic experience with others.
He recently wrote his memoirs, detailing his private life and decades-long diplomatic experiences. His only child was Ayse Basak Yakis, who is an associate professor at King’s College London.
Marc Pierini, a former EU ambassador and the head of delegation to Turkiye from 2006 to 2011, wrote on the social media platform X: “A man of great culture and remarkable wisdom, always open to discussion with foreign ambassadors. I learned a lot from him.”
Ozdem Sanberk, one of Turkiye’s most experienced diplomats and a former ambassador to the UK, had his first six months of military service with Yakis in Istanbul. Talking to Arab News, Sanberk recalled that Yakis enjoyed each free moment by reading classic novels from around the world.
Sanberk said: “He was telling us that, due to his own family conditions, he couldn’t read all the Russian classics at an early age. So, he felt the need to compensate for those years by reading extensively. He also asked to serve his second stage of military service in the eastern part of Turkiye to concentrate more on reading. He even had his books placed on a horse’s back and had them transported to the place where he would serve in the military. He had a great talent for learning new languages and an insatiable thirst for learning. His intellectual deepness was great.”
Sanberk also said that Turkiye’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs had lost one of its most distinguished Middle East experts. “Yakis served as a diplomat in some of the most pivotal countries in the Middle East and the Gulf region,” he said.
Former Turkish FM and Arab News columnist Yasar Yakis is no more
https://arab.news/y6mkn
Former Turkish FM and Arab News columnist Yasar Yakis is no more
- He added insight, context and a rational voice to our coverage, says Arab News Editor-in-Chief Faisal J. Abbas
Leaders, journalist groups condemn Israeli strike on Gaza hospital that killed 5 reporters
- Attack brings toll of journalists, media workers killed since Oct. 7, 2023, to 197
- ‘Israel’s broadcasted killing of journalists in Gaza continues while the world watches and fails to act,’ says CPJ’s regional director
LONDON: World leaders and journalist organizations have condemned an Israeli strike on Monday that targeted Gaza’s Nasser Hospital and killed at least 21 people, including five journalists working for Reuters, the Associated Press, Al Jazeera, and other outlets.
The attack on the medical complex reportedly involved an Israeli explosive drone strike, followed by an airstrike as wounded civilians were being evacuated.
The assault drew widespread condemnation, fueling international anger over Israel’s repeated targeting of civilians and intensifying frustration at the failure of the international community to hold Israel accountable for attacks on the press.
Sara Qudah, the Committee to Protect Journalists’ regional director, said in a statement: “Israel killed at least five journalists in Nasser Hospital on Monday morning.
“Israel’s broadcasted killing of journalists in Gaza continues while the world watches and fails to act firmly on the most horrific attacks the press has ever faced in recent history. These murders must end now; the perpetrators must no longer be allowed to act with impunity.”
The CPJ has documented the killing of at least 197 journalists and media workers since the war began, including 189 Palestinians killed by Israel in Gaza.
In a statement on social media, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the incident a “tragic mishap,” adding Israel “deeply regrets” the deaths and “values the work of journalists, medical staff, and all civilians.” He added that an investigation had been launched.
The UN insisted on Tuesday that Israel must not only investigate the attack, but also ensure that those probes yielded results.
Reactions from world leaders and media groups are below.
SAUDI MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS:
“The Foreign Ministry expresses the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s condemnation of Israeli occupation forces’ targeting of medical, relief, and media personnel at the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip.”
PALESTINIAN JOURNALISTS SYNDICATE:
“The syndicate affirmed that this heinous crime represents a dangerous escalation in the direct and deliberate targeting of Palestinian journalists, and confirms without a shadow of a doubt that the occupation is waging an open war on free media, with the aim of terrorizing journalists and preventing them from carrying out their professional mission of exposing its crimes to the world.”
US PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP:
“When did this happen? I didn’t know that. Well, I’m not happy about it. I don’t want to see it. At the same time, we have to end that whole nightmare.”
FRENCH PRESIDENT EMMANUEL MACRON:
“This is intolerable: civilians and journalists must be protected in all circumstances. The media must be able to carry out their mission freely and independently to cover the reality of the conflict.”
QATARI MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS:
“In a statement on Monday the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stressed that the occupation forces’ targeting of journalists and relief and medical workers requires urgent and decisive international action to provide the necessary protection for civilians and ensure that the perpetrators of these atrocities do not escape punishment.”
UN SPOKESPERSON STEPHANE DUJARRIC:
“The secretary-general strongly condemns the killing of Palestinians today in Israeli strikes that hit Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. Those killed in addition to civilians included medical personnel and journalists.
“These latest horrific killings highlight the extreme risks that medical personnel and journalists face as they carry out their vital work amid this brutal conflict.
“They must be respected and protected at all times. He calls for a prompt and impartial investigation into these killings.”
US SENATOR JEANNE SHAHEEN, SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE
“I personally am appalled by the bombing in Gaza and by the killing of journalists, and think it needs to end now.”
JEROME GRIMAUD, MSF EMERGENCY COORDINATOR IN GAZA:
“For the past 22 months we have watched as healthcare facilities have been leveled, journalists silenced, and healthcare workers buried beneath the rubble by the Israeli forces. As Israel continues to shun international law, the only witnesses of their genocidal campaign are deliberately being targeted. It must stop now.”
RAVINA SHAMDASANI, CHIEF SPOKESPERSON FOR UN HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS VOLKER TURK:
“The killing of journalists in Gaza should shock the world, not into stunned silence but into action, demanding accountability and justice.”
WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION DIRECTOR GENERAL TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS:
“While people in #Gaza are being starved, their already limited access to healthcare is being further crippled by repeated attacks.”
“We cannot say it loudly enough: Stop attacks on healthcare. Ceasefire now!”
UNRWA CHIEF PHILIPPE LAZZARINI:
“Silencing the last remaining voices reporting about children dying silently and #famine with the world’s indifference & inaction is shocking ... Let us undo this man-made famine by opening the gates without restrictions, protecting journalists & humanitarian + health workers. Time for political will. Not tomorrow, now.”
JERUSALEM-BASED FOREIGN PRESS ASSOCIATION:
“We demand an immediate explanation from the Israel Defense Forces and the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office. We call on Israel once and for all to halt its abhorrent practice of targeting journalists … We appeal to international leaders: Do everything you can to protect our colleagues. We cannot do it ourselves.”
With Reuters
The 189 Palestinian journalists killed in the war in Gaza endured hunger and grief
Since the war began in Gaza, 189 Palestinian journalists have been killed, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. They include men and women, freelancers and staffers, veterans with years in the field and young reporters on some of their first assignments. Some were killed with their families at home, others were in vehicles marked “PRESS,” or in tents near hospitals, or out covering the violence. Many endured the same conditions as those they covered — hunger, displacement, and grief.
Among them:
— Mariam Dagga, 33. A visual journalist and a 33-year-old mother, she was known for human-centered reporting from southern Gaza, including at Nasser Hospital, where she was killed in an Israeli strike in August 2025. During the war, she worked for The Associated Press and Independent Arabia. The strike that killed her also claimed the lives of rescuers and four other journalists.
— Anas Al-Sharif, 28. The father of two was killed in an Israeli strike on a tent outside Shifa hospital in August 2025, days after he wept on air while reporting on starvation deaths in Gaza. The strike — which also killed five other journalists — prompted an outpouring of condemnation from press freedom groups and foreign officials.
— Hamza Dahdouh, 27. The son of Al Jazeera’s Gaza City bureau chief, he was killed in a January 2024 drone strike after leaving a reporting assignment at the site of an earlier strike in southern Gaza. He was the fifth member of his family to be killed.
— Ayat Khadoura, 27. The Al Quds University graduate shed light on the hardships families faced in the first weeks of the war. She became known for reporting on bombs striking her northern Gaza neighborhood, including one video in which she said Israeli forces had ordered residents to evacuate moments before a strike hit her home and killed her in November 2023.
— Hossam Shabat, 23. A freelancer from northern Gaza, he was killed while reporting for Al Jazeera in March 2025. Before the war, he told a Beirut-based advocacy group he hoped to start a media company or work in his family’s restaurants.
— Fatima Hassouna, 25. The photojournalist was killed in an April 2025 Israeli airstrike a day after a documentary about her efforts to film daily life amid war in Gaza was accepted at a Cannes Film Festival program promoting independent films.
Israel has accused some of the journalists killed of involvement with militant groups, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad — charges that journalists and their outlets have dismissed as baseless. Israel’s military did not respond to an Associated Press request for comment about the CPJ data.
Figures and methodologies may differ among groups that track journalist deaths. CPJ said it “independently investigates and verifies the circumstances behind each death,” including to verify journalists’ lack of involvement in militant activities.
Reuters, AP demand Israel explain killing journalists, civilians in Gaza hospital strike
- News agencies skeptical of Israel’s promise of independent probe
- Tel Aviv can be accused of killing witnesses by targeting journalists
LONDON: Reuters and The Associated Press have jointly called on Tel Aviv to conduct a full and transparent investigation into its strike on Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis on Monday that killed five freelance journalists covering Israel’s war on Gaza.
In a letter on Monday addressed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Israel Katz, and other senior officials, the two leading news agencies demanded a clear explanation.
The attack killed AP freelancer Mariam Dagga, Reuters contributor Moaz Abu Taha and cameraman Hussam Al-Masri. Photographer Hatem Khaled, also contracted by Reuters, was wounded.
Noting the nearly two-year ban on foreign correspondents entering the enclave ravaged by Israel, the media agencies said: “These journalists were present in their professional capacity, doing critical work bearing witness.”
The letter added: “We are outraged that independent journalists were among the victims of this strike on the hospital, a location that is protected under international law.”
Though the media agencies acknowledged Tel Aviv’s pledge to investigate the attack, they raised concerns about the credibility of Israel’s internal probes, citing a lack of transparency and past failures to deliver accountability and action.
This, they said, raises “serious questions including whether Israel is deliberately targeting live feeds in order to suppress information.”
Since Oct. 7, 2023, at least 197 journalists and media workers have been killed, including 189 Palestinians, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. The toll includes multiple confirmed cases of targeted strikes.
Following Monday’s strike, the Israeli military claimed it “does not target journalists as such.”
But both agencies questioned the statement and raised concerns over whether Israel was fulfilling its obligations under international law to protect journalists and civilians.
“Striking a hospital, followed by a second strike while journalists and rescuers were responding, raises urgent questions about whether these obligations were upheld,” the letter read.
The agencies reiterated their call for Israel to allow safe and unimpeded access to Gaza for independent journalists, urging officials to uphold press freedom and protection.
“We are doing everything we can to keep our journalists in Gaza safe as they continue to deliver crucial eyewitness reporting under extremely dangerous conditions,” the letter stated.
Israeli authorities have not yet responded to the joint request.
Similarly, the Foreign Press Association, which represents international media working in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory, expressed its outrage on the attack, demanding “an immediate explanation” from the Israeli army and the Israeli PM’s office.
In a statement on Monday, the association called on Israel “once and for all to halt its abhorrent practice of targeting journalists.”
It added: “This must be a watershed moment. We appeal to international leaders: Do everything you can to protect our colleagues. We cannot do it ourselves.”
UN says Israeli probes into Gaza killings must ‘yield results’
GENEVA: The UN insisted Tuesday that Israel must not only investigate alleged unlawful killings in Gaza like the hospital strike that killed 20 people, including journalists, the previous day, but also ensure those probes yield results.
“There needs to be justice,” United Nations rights office spokesman Thameen Al-Kheetan told reporters in Geneva, adding that the large number of media workers killed in the Gaza war “raises many, many questions about the targeting of journalists.”
His comments came after an Israeli strike on the Nasser Hospital in the southern Gaza town of Khan Yunis on Monday killed at least 20 people, including five journalists, sparking an international outcry.
Reuters, the Associated Press and Al Jazeera all issued statements mourning their slain contributors, while the Israeli military said it would investigate the incident.
“The Israeli authorities have, in the past, announced investigations in such killings,” Kheetan said.
“It’s of course the responsibility of Israel, as the occupying power, to investigate — but these investigations need to yield results,” he said.
“We haven’t seen results or accountability measures yet. We have yet to see the results of these investigations, and we call for accountability and justice.”
Kheetan said at least 247 Palestinian journalists have been killed in Gaza since the war was triggered by militant group Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
“These journalists are the eyes and the ears of the whole world and they must be protected,” he said.
Asked if Monday’s attack could amount to a so-called “double-tap” strike, in which an initial strike is followed by a second hitting rescue workers and other civilians, Kheetan said this needed to be investigated.
“We can say that the Israeli military reportedly launched multiple air strikes on the Nasser Medical Complex, and there were two air strikes in a short period of time,” he said.
“We know that one of the five journalists appears to have been killed in the first air strike while three others, including the woman journalist, appear to have been killed in the second air strike,” he added, describing this as “a shock” and “unacceptable.”
“This incident and the killing of all civilians, including journalists, must be thoroughly and independently investigated, and justice must follow.”
Tunisia rights groups denounce closure of freedom of information agency
- The journalists union described the measure as “the demolition of one of the fundamental pillars” of Tunisia’s fragile democracy
TUNIS: Tunisian rights groups on Monday condemned the dissolution of an authority that sought to guarantee access to information for citizens and journalists.
The groups denounced as a setback for freedoms the closure of the National Authority for Access to Information (INAI), an independent body established in 2016 in the aftermath of the Arab Spring uprising of 2011, aiming to safeguard rights to access information.
The government told AFP it had shut down the agency earlier this month and reassigned its staff to other government roles.
The National Syndicate of Tunisian Journalists (SNJT) said the move was made “in secret” with no major public announcement, criticizing the government’s tighter restrictions on information.
“Access to information is increasingly locked now,” SNJT head Zied Dabbar told AFP.
“We cannot speak of press freedom if there is no access to information,” he added. “From now on, there will only be the official narrative, which will lead to propaganda.”
The journalists union described the measure as “the demolition of one of the fundamental pillars” of Tunisia’s fragile democracy.
President Kais Saied, elected in 2019, has ruled Tunisia by decree since a 2021 power grab, with local and international organizations decrying a decline in freedoms in the North African country.
Many of Saied’s critics are currently behind bars, including dozens of journalists and public figures who have been prosecuted under a 2022 law incriminating “spreading false news.”
“It has become clear that the authorities want to lock all sources of information,” said Romdhane Ben Amor, head of the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights. “This is a political choice to break with the constitutional bodies.”
“The space of rights and freedoms is more and more suffocated,” Ben Amor told AFP, warning that other institutions could also face closure.
