For ProPublica: Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was in a tough spot last August when he paid a visit to Turkey. For nearly a year, his government had been at war with rebels from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, which was now pushing south from its stronghold near the Eritrean border and threatening to move on the country’s capital of Addis Ababa. Thousands had already been killed, and the United States and the United Nations had accused all the warring parties of blockading aid, committing…Continue Reading ““The Drone Problem”: How the U.S. Has Struggled to Curb Turkey, a Key Exporter of Armed Drones”
For Al Jazeera English: Istanbul, Turkey – A light snow falls on Istanbul as Yoruk Isik boards a ferry and climbs upstairs, passing up the cosy enclosed lower deck where tourists and commuters sip tea for the open-air top of the small boat. As the ferry embarks on its trip up the Bosphorus Strait, Isik pulls out a camera and begins snapping photos of a giant southbound cargo ship he recognises, one usually contracted to carry wheat purchased in Eastern Europe as humanitarian aid for…Continue Reading “Giant chessboard: Istanbul ship-spotters monitor moves for war”
For Al Jazeera English: Istanbul, Turkey – Just off of Istiklal street, Istanbul’s busiest pedestrian walkway, the occasional passerby stops to glance at a screen displaying the prices of cryptocurrencies in the window at NakitCoins. Only a handful of people enter the shop, but the brick-and-mortar exchange, which lets them buy or sell Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, is a physical example of how the ailing Turkish lira is propelling the popularity of virtual cryptocurrencies in Turkey, despite a recent history of scandalised exchanges. Interest in…Continue Reading “Crypto investing is alive and well in Turkey, thanks to lira woes”
For Al Jazeera English: Istanbul, Turkey – At a produce stand in Istanbul’s Balat neighbourhood this week, the owner, Selamet, took a break from serving customers to talk about something that’s affecting everyone in Turkey – rising food prices. “Some things have not gone up as much as others, because their production has kept up, but others, especially the most often bought items here have gone up more,” Selamet told Al Jazeera. Prices of popular items including potatoes, onions, eggplant, green beans, and other vegetables…Continue Reading “Just how bad is inflation in Turkey? It depends on who you ask”
For Al Jazeera English: Istanbul, Turkey – Every day, Emre İlkan Saklica scrolls through endless social media feeds, delving into the latest trends and browsing through news reports, with just one goal: debunk false claims. Saklica is head of editorial at Teyit, Turkey’s largest independent fact-checking organisation. For more than five years, Teyit has been using a variety of channels to fight false information in the country’s public discourse – not just what is perpetuated publicly on social or traditional media but also in closed…Continue Reading “How Turkey’s largest fact-checking group tackles disinformation”
For Al Jazeera English: Istanbul, Turkey – On a sunny afternoon this week in Istanbul’s Uskudar neighbourhood, retiree Niazi Toprak sat on a bench reading the newspaper as he waited for a fresh delivery of bread to arrive. Joining him were dozens of other people who had also lined up at the nearby kiosk belonging to the city’s subsidised bread programme. Istanbul Halk Ekmek, or “Public Bread”, sells a 250g (8.8 oz) baguette for 1.25 Turkish liras ($0.09) – cheaper than at nearby bakeries, where…Continue Reading “In Turkey, bread lines grow longer as inflation soars”
For Al Jazeera English: Istanbul, Turkey – On a chilly afternoon in Istanbul’s Kadikoy neighbourhood, Nurmukhammed Annaev poked his head out of the window looking for fellow dissidents from Turkmenistan who had said they would attend a press conference. Dozens of Turkish police officers milled about below, blocking traffic on the street leading to the office. “The police stopped me on my way here,” Annaev, 40, told Al Jazeera. “They wanted to know if our press conference was going to be outside because they say…Continue Reading “Turkmenistan’s dissidents fear crackdown in Turkish exile”
For Al Jazeera English: Istanbul, Turkey – Taha Elgazi says he is on a mission to meet anyone who hates refugees. The 37-year-old fled the war in Syria in 2013 for Turkey, leaving behind his home in Deir Az Zor and a dream of obtaining a doctorate in cosmology. He has made important strides over the years in Istanbul, teaching physics for a time in schools for Syrian children, and being chosen as a skilled enough professional to obtain Turkish nationality, something fewer than 200,000…Continue Reading “Uncertainty for Syrians in Turkey as opposition warms to Assad”
For Al Jazeera English: Istanbul, Turkey – Nearly a month since he says a team of Iranian intelligence agents tried to drug him and take him back to Iran, Mehrdad Abdarbashi said he was thankful to Turkish authorities for saving his life but worried he is still not safe. “I don’t think I am safe in any city in Turkey right now,” he told Al Jazeera. “I think Iranian intelligence will come after me, and this time they won’t try to kidnap me, this time…Continue Reading “Former pilot says Iranian agents tried to kidnap him in Turkey”
For Al Jazeera English: Every Sunday, Hamdi Mohseni, his wife Serda, and their five remaining children, walk the 15km from their apartment to the paupers’ cemetery where their daughter Zahra is buried. Mohseni brings a ballpoint pen with him to trace the letters of her name in the concrete tombstone, to make sure it does not disappear among the hundreds of knee-high concrete slabs in this cemetery in Van, in the east of Turkey near the Iranian border. Most of the gravestones have no names…Continue Reading “City to city, camp to camp: Afghan refugees struggle to find home”