Natalie also contributes content to online and print publications:
Missing Reporters in Syria Become the Story:
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Dozens of journalists have been killed or disappeared while reporting on the conflict in Syria. Those who get home safe, like Bunyamin Aygun, receive a hero's welcome, while the families of the missing wait in despair.
At an airport in southern Turkey, friends and family waited anxiously for Bunyamin Aygun to walk through the security doors. When that moment came, they couldn't believe he was safe, back in Turkey. Neither could Aygun. Remarkably, Aygun's release came only hours after a mass demonstration in Istanbul calling for the release of all journalists missing in Syria.... |
Assad's Alawite Allies:
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The inability of the United Nations to agree on a consensus regarding Syria has led Turkey to take the lead in building a common accord amongst the international community, to try and bring an end to the conflict.
Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu have been increasingly defining Ankara's position as one that does not support Damascus' current government. Meanwhile, Syrian refugees continue to flood into neighboring Turkey, adding pressure to Ankara's expenditures and to the financial strain on communities already affected by cross border trade sanctions.... |
Counting the Cost of the Syrian Conflict:
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A year after the conflict in Syria erupted, neighboring Turkey is counting the cost of the last 12 months. Disruption in bilateral trade and a surge of Syrian refugees is hitting Ankara’s pocketbook.
Sitting along their shared 900-kilometer (550 miles) border, in the southern Turkish province of Antakya, is the small town of Yayalagdi. Sanctions between Turkey and Syria have put a strain on cross-border commerce... |
Families Struggle with Aftermath of Soma Mining Distaster:
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Shock and anger have gripped families across Turkey following the deaths of 301 workers at a mine in the country's west. The tragedy has overwhelmed the Girgins, who lost Muhammed, a son, brother and soon-to-be father.
Turkey is in a deep state of mourning. You don't have to be Turkish to feel the immensity of anguish and anger this country is harboring. Just ask Muharrem Girgin, one of the 301 fathers who lost their sons in the Soma mine last week... **Listen to radio report here |
Plans to Segregate LGBT Convicts in Turkey:
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Turkey's justice and development minister has unveiled a proposal that would place LGBT convicts in jails separate from heterosexual inmates. Critics of the plan say it has little to do with "protecting" anyone.
Turkey's plan to construct a prison exclusively for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual (LGBT) convicts, doesn't come as much of a surprise to Hakan, a 30-year-old gay man in the capital, Ankara... |