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  • AFP / Ozan Kose
  • AFP / Ozan Kose
  • AFP / Ozan Kose
  • AFP / Bulent Kilic
  • AFP / Ozan Kose
  • AFP / Ozan Kose

Turkey's tumultuous times

Tuesday 19 February 2019

"Flying back into Istanbul’s main airport a few weeks ago, I was pinned to my seat by the breathless beauty of the city, as if I was arriving for the very first time to the place that has been my home for almost half a decade," writes Stuart Williams, who has just finished a posting in Turkey.

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AFP / Yasin Akgul

Groping for truth of a murder in Istanbul

Wednesday 2 January 2019

"When Jamal Khashoggi entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, I was neither watching or could have had any inkling this would turn into an event of any importance," writes Stuart Williams, who has just finished up a posting as deputy bureau chief in Turkey.

"Yet his entry through its doors set off one of the most horrific and grotesque news stories I have handled in my nearly two decades as a journalist. And also one of the most delicate to handle."

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AFP / Adem Altan

Turkey's long shadow

Friday 6 July 2018

Istanbul --Covering Turkey as a foreign journalist involves working under a very long shadow. A shadow cast by a still hugely vigorous 64-year old man, 1.85 metres tall, who has ruled the country for the last 15 years. And after winning elections on June 24, will do so for at least another five years, possibly ten. Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

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AFP / Ozan Kose

Istanbul: a cityscape now scarred by terror

Thursday 5 January 2017

"Almost everyone who lives in or visits Istanbul falls in love with the city," writes news editor Stuart Williams. "In this vast, sprawling metropolis with centuries of Christian and Islamic history, everyone can draft a highly personal and emotional map in their heads of what the city means to them. For some, it may be holy sites and football stadiums; for others coffee houses down back alleys where you crouch on a stool and someone reads your fortune."

"But over the past year, grim landmarks have appeared on those personal Istanbul maps, as terror attacks have relentlessly struck the city."

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AFP / Ozan Köse

Saving the world in 48 hours

Monday 30 May 2016

"For connoisseurs of international summitry, it’s been high season recently in Turkey," writes AFP's Istanbul deputy bureau chief Stuart Williams. "We enjoyed a G20 summit featuring Barack Obama, a Islamic summit starring the Saudi monarch and last week in Istanbul the first ever World Humanitarian Summit."

"My scepticism ahead of the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul was perhaps even greater than usual. The sheer ambition of the event -- to transform the world’s humanitarian system and get more aid more efficiently to the worst off -- seemed at odds with what could be achieved in any two day meeting."

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