Intern Stories Archive

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Intern Stories

Influx of Syrian Women Frays Turkey’s Welcome Mat

Scot Tucker | August 21, 2014

By Léa Bouchoucha

Turkey's policies toward Syrian refugees may be generous, but that doesn't mean Fatma Muhammed feels welcome.

Intern Stories

Kurdish Women in Turkey Weigh Presidential Stakes

Scot Tucker | August 21, 2014

By Catherine Tsalikis

For these urban transplants, the symbolic candidate Selahattin Demirtas is best. But Erdogan is also courting them with the possibility of a ceasefire and peace. Read More

Intern Stories

Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu: Turkey’s Opposition Candidate

Scot Tucker | August 21, 2014

By Adam Virnelson and Stephanie Henkel

The chief opposition candidate is a cipher.

Intern Stories

Iranians Move to Turkey to Press LGBT Liberation

Scot Tucker | August 21, 2014

By Léa Bouchoucha

Turkey's annual gay pride march features outrage over hate crimes against gay and transgender people. But for Iranians, the country is a haven. Read More

Intern Stories

Somali Refugees Find an Unlikely Home … In Istanbul

Scot Tucker | August 21, 2014

By Hannah Tayson

Somali refugees seek a temporary home in an old Greek neighborhood of Istanbul, seeking respite from political and natural disasters in Somalia. Read More

Dogan Dera, owner of the Dogan Et Tavuk Butcher Shop, in his store. Photo by Stephanie Henkel

Intern Stories

Bread and Community in Istanbul

Scot Tucker | August 21, 2014

By Stephanie Henkel

Residents of Istanbul's Pangalti neighborhood have created a culture based on rich neighbor-shopowner relations.

Intern Stories

Syrians Speak of Harsh Refuge in Istanbul (with Video)

Mary D'Ambrosio | August 21, 2014

By Léa Bouchoucha

While Turkey has officially welcomed Syrian refugees, some say they face discrimination and violence.

Turks Face Off Over Their Future

ieiMedia and University of Jamestown students arrived in Turkey on the eve of the August 2014 presidential elections, to report on a deeply divided society.

In the wake of the 2013 Gezi Park uprising, a protest that began as a small sit-in against the destruction of a pocket park and ended in nationwide demonstrations against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's authoritarian style, Istanbul Project students wanted to find out why some Turks passionately supported Erdoğan, and others saw him as a symbol for all that ailed Turkey.

Undergraduates reported in two fiercely pro-government neighborhoods, Fatih and Eyüp, and two opposition ones, Kadıköy and Okmeydanı, in search of stories that might explain the driving forces behind these political sentiments. They then told those stories in words, photos and video.

Foreign correspondent interns reported on the runup to the elections, and found their host publications -- Worldpress, the UN-based MediaGlobal, Women's eNews and InterPress Service, eager to publish their eyewitness reports.

Soon after we left, Erdoğan was elected president -- by a healthy margin -- and we began to hear secularists talk about leaving the country.