Todayszaman.com | with wires | Istanbul

Mourners in Malatya on Tuesday bid their last farewell to journalist and short-story writer Evrim Alataş, who died on Monday after a lengthy battle with lung cancer.

Alataş, who wrote the story on which the screenplay for the popular Kurdish film “Min Dît/Ben Gördüm” (The Children of Diyarbakır) was based, died on Monday in the southeastern city of Diyarbakır, losing a 13-year battle with cancer. She was 34.

The Alevi-Kurdish Alataş, who started her journalism career in 1994 as a correspondent with the Yeni Politika daily, worked as a reporter and editor for several dailies, including Demokrasi and Özgür Bakış. Alataş, who contributed as a columnist to the Turkish dailies Evrensel, Birgün, and Radikal’s weekend supplement Radikal İki throughout her career, was most recently writing a column called “Kürtler Vadisi” (Valley of the Kurds) in the Taraf daily.

A ceremony for Alataş was held on Tuesday at the Southeastern Journalists Association (GGC) building in Diyarbakır, the Anatolia news agency reported. Alataş’s body was later sent to the Gölpınar Village near the southeastern province of Malatya, where she was to be buried.

Alataş recently gained attention for the story she wrote for Kurdish-born filmmaker Miraz Bezar’s debut feature “Min Dît,” which was released in Turkish theaters last week and which is currently in the running for a Golden Tulip award in this year’s İstanbul film festival.