Bülent Kılıç, a respected photojournalist at Agence France-Presse (AFP) for 22 years and the winner of numerous prestigious awards, has been fired without severance pay, the Gazete Duvar news website reported on Tuesday.
Kılıç shared the news of his unexpected dismissal on X, expressing his surprise and dismay at the sudden decision.
Known for his captivating work that has garnered worldwide attention, Kılıç said in a series of tweets that he had a premonition when he woke up, comparing his intuition to that of “a wild animal sensing danger.”
“I woke up this morning, went to the balcony to pray in the sun and had a feeling that today was not an ordinary day, even though everything seemed too ordinary,” Kılıç said. His intuition proved correct when he was informed of his dismissal without severance pay.
The experienced photojournalist, whose career spans two decades, has gained international recognition for his impressive images.
In 2014 he was awarded the prestigious World Press Photo prize and in 2015 he was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for his stunning photos of Kurds fleeing ISIS attacks across the Syrian-Turkish border.
Time magazine and The Guardian also named him “Photographer of the Year” in 2014, highlighting his significant contributions to photojournalism.
AFP has not yet issued a statement on the circumstances of Kılıç’s departure.
Haco Biskin / Gazete Duvar / AFP
In June 2021, Kılıç was brutally detained while covering the İstanbul Pride March, sparking outrage and condemnation from national and international journalist associations. In August of that year, he was included on the One Free Press Coalition’s “10 Most Urgent” list of press freedom cases due to his brutal detention.
The monthly list spotlighted photojournalists, videographers and filmmakers “who are experiencing a unique set of challenges and are often in situations of danger, given that the line of work requires them to get direct access to the action.”