Hannah Lucinda Smith
@hannahluci
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Turkey correspondent with @TheTimes and @MonocleMag , contributor to @WIRED @TheEconomist @TheAtlantic + others Author of ZARIFA and ERDOĞAN RISING
İstanbul, Türkiye
Joined February 2019
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One of the fruits of warming Turkish-Greek relations is a special visa that allows Turks easier access to Greece's Aegean islands - and tens of thousands are taking up the offer. My piece in this week's
@TheEconomist
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4.5 years later, I've just thought of an upside to Brexit - the UK will now be able to eat kokoreç, banned in the EU for being too delicious
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Boris Johnson has serial affairs and an unknown number of love-children and that's absolutely fine, Boris will be Boris. But Sanna Marin dances with men in a nightclub and it's front page news and grounds to resign? Misogyny and hypocrisy, alive and well.
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It's not a Turkish election until Doğu Perincek has pledged to pull Turkey out of NATO
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Azerbaijan is surely the only place in the world where you're gonna see that flag combo
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Many Turks at polling stations this morning saying they will return to the ballot boxes or electoral board HQs this evening to monitor the counts. This kind of civil activism is not a sign of healthy democracy - it is a stark warning of how far trust in elections has degraded
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Beşiktaş has penetrated the highest levels of the British intelligence services
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The Chronicles of Narnia are strewn with Turkic references, but nobody really knows why: CS Lewis did not speak Turkish, nor did he ever visit the country
For
@EngelsbergIdeas
, I wrote about the mystery that has preoccupied me for years
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EXCLUSIVE: Roman Abramovic has held a series of meetings with Rustem Umerov, a Crimean Tatar and member of the Ukrainian parliament, in Istanbul in his role as an unofficial mediator in the conflict. My story in
@thetimes
today
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11) Endgame by
@scobie
- A lot of crap has been written about Omid Scobie but this book is a well-sourced counterbalance to the increasingly nauseating royal coverage in many UK papers. Also watch
@mrjamesob
's excellent chat with Scobie
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The pro-Palestine rally in Istanbul yesterday was far smaller than others in London and elsewhere. The Gaza cause in Turkey has been so thoroughly co-opted by Islamists that, even though there is widespread support for Palestine, most Turks would not turn out for a rally
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I knew Ajda Pekkan was older than she looks but...
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To read the English translation of Erdogan's victory speech on the official Turkish presidency website, you would think that his tone was conciliatory. Significant chunks of his vitriol against the opposition and nefarious foreign powers are left out:
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"There is no army here. The fire service is amazing but it is not enough. The heroes of this are our Turkish boys," Amanda Green Kartal, a British expat of 27 years in Marmaris, told me. "I am so proud of every one of them"
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The first ever Zoom protest? The Iranian embassy in Turkey was forced to halt its online event for the anniversary of Qasem Soleimani's death after participants started chanting 'murderer Iran' and changing their usernames to 'murderer Soleimani'
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It's been quite a year for Turkey since my book was released, and tomorrow it comes out in paperback, with new subtitle and in a beach-friendly size. Order here for last-minute holiday reading!
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Moda İskelesi reopened last night and it is gorgeous. I travelled there with Istanbul mayor
@ekrem_imamoglu
on one of the city's new fleet of sea taxis - article out in next month's edition of
@MonocleMag
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Yesterday photographer
@bradleysecker
and I reached Kahramanmaraş, the epicentre of Monday's earthquake. The entire city is destroyed, and there are not enough rescuers to search the rubble. Dispatch in today's
@thetimes
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We're reaching a point where the only news outlets creating new staff positions are the English-language propaganda channels of authoritarian regimes. Meanwhile, the free press is shedding jobs at an alarming rate and growing ever more reliant on freelancers. Horrible news.
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Last week Greece completed another stretch of the wall that will eventually span its entire border with Turkey and part of its frontier with Bulgaria. When photographer Antonis Pasvantis and I went to report, we were arrested by special forces soldiers
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Following Turkey's devastating earthquake
@bradleysecker
and I returned to Antakya, the ancient city we both once lived in, and fell in love with. We found it unrecognisable. Dispatch in
@thetimes
with Bradley's powerful photos:
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I've fallen down something of an Ataturk/ Edward VIII rabbit hole today, which has culminated in finding these photos of them watching a yacht race in Moda, Istanbul during the King's official visit in 1936
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Antakya before the earthquake. This is how i will always remember it.
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Today in Istanbul I was handed this AKP colouring book, which I would make a joke about but I'm not going to
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Istanbul municipality
@istanbulbld
's London Underground-inspired route map for the city's passenger ferries ❤️
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Very excited to reveal the cover of my debut book 'Erdogan Rising', which is out on September 5th from
@WmCollinsBooks
. I wish I could use that font for everything.
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1) So much context has been lost and recent history revised in the coverage of this growing crisis between Turkey and Syria. US always assured Ankara that their support for the YPG was 'temporary, tactical and transactional' - a US diplomat quoted here in my new book on Erdogan
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Aaaaah, the architect of the 'Turks are going to invade UK' Brexit campaign complains about unfair treatment from the media
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This has been a bleak, heavy couple of weeks in Turkey. So here is a reminder of everything that is wonderful about this country: Kemal Sunal and Ayşen Gruda, riding around Adana for eternity on the back of a dolmuş ❤️🇹🇷
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The SSK state hospital in Iskenderun failed an earthquake resilience test in 2012, yet repairs were never done. It collapsed in the Feb 6 earthquake, killing more that 70 patients and staff. My report on the rot in Turkish construction in today's
@thetimes
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Today I learnt that the Turkish term for a swimming ring is a 'simit', and it has made me so, so happy
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Never let it be said that Istanbul's vitamin bars will allow a marketing opportunity to pass them by
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@BonViva71725559
My first flat in Istanbul was above a kokoreçci and the smell put me off for years. But I tried it for the first time this summer and OMG it's an orgasm
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I wrote about one of my Istanbul obsessions - the destructive southwesterly wind known as the Lodos, and its link with migraine attacks
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Wow - Halkbank literally refused to receive the indictment against it when FedEx tried to deliver it. Legal equivalent of covering your eyes and saying 'I can't see you, so you can't see me'
NEW: Minutes before Halkbank arraignment, prosecutors present more evidence of service.
"[I]t is clear that Halkbank is aware of the indictment and the court’s summonses and is attempting to evade service."
Below: A note from bank's legal department to FedEx.
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Amazing picture of the fog that fell on Istanbul like a blanket last night
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12) Spare by Prince Harry - yes I read this too. I'm not a fan of any of the royals, but as a historic moment it was extraordinary. His recent win on phone hacking at the High Court has also heightened my respect for him
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North Cyprus has been independent for nearly 40 years yet is recognised only by Turkey, and foreign investment is soaring despite it being a black hole. For March's
@MonocleMag
,
@bradleysecker
and I spent a week digging into the would-be country
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The coolest thing I have seen today - Marilyn Monroe with the Turkish troops in Korea, 1954
askerlere moral vermek için kore’yi ziyaret eden ve konser veren marilyn monroe, türk askerleri ile beraber. monroe’nin koluna girdiği kişi pilot üsteğmen cavit özata’dır, 1954
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Go to the Turkish version, and you get the full story. One message for his audience at home, another for the foreigners who, whatever he claims, he needs to keep onside
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Holding the printed edition of ZARIFA, my new book with
@Zarifa_Ghafari
for the first time!
The book tells the story of Zarifa's upbringing in Afghanistan and her work as a human rights activist, right up to the fall of Kabul to the Taliban in August 2021.
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Taken 8 years ago today, on Republic Day 2013. A different era. Cumhuriyet Bayramı kutlu olsun 🇹🇷
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Holding the final printed copy of my book in my hands for the first time!
@WmCollinsBooks
@AsiaLitAgency
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My scoop for
@TheEconomist
: Turkey may be on the brink of exiting the Council of Europe, the body whose members agree to abide by the European Convention on Human Rights
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‘A brilliant guide, filled with insights, into Erdogan the leader and Erdogan the man... essential reading full stop’ - thanks
@peterfrankopan
for this great review of Erdogan Rising, which is out now!
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I'm thrilled to have contributed to
@gabriel_films
landmark BBC documentary on Turkey and Erdogan, alongside some esteemed names
Empire of Erdogan, out tonight:
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My book about Erdogan and Turkey, published in Greece today!
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Turkey's biggest protests in a decade erupted in the Kurdish city of Van and spread to other provinces last night after the newly-elected mayor was removed from office and replaced with the candidate from Erdogan's AKP
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Atatürk watches the Bosphorus on a lockdown morning
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The rest of the city centre is Disneyland, but Skopje's old town is, IMO, the best in the Balkans
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In the wake of last week's indictment against Halkbank, essential reading here from
@klasfeldreports
Turkey’s Lobbyists Had Deep Access to Trump White House
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Graffiti in Istanbul referencing AFAD, Turkey's disaster agency: 'Understand, it's useless but it's the state'
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One of Don McCullin's most famous images on a grieving Turkish-Cypriot woman has been misappropriated for propaganda. Two things to take from this story: nationalism is ugly, and don't believe everything you see on social media
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Kadıköy çarşı is, IMO, the best place to find Turkish street food in Istanbul. For
@Monocle24
,
@KatrinkaSasha
and I went on the ultimate mate date - lahmacun at Borsam, followed by künefe at Asi
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Abramovic has also travelled to Moscow and Kyiv, where he has met with Putin and Zelensky, and passed messages between the two. The Istanbul talks are being overseen by Ibrahim Kalin, Erdogan's long-time spokesman
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Like a total Brit I just remarked to my neighbour that it's a bit grim out. And like a total Turk, he replied that without the bad weather, we'd never understand when the weather is good.
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.
@Zarifa_Ghafari
and I have spent the past six months writing her memoir, the story of how an Afghan woman fought back against her society - and continues to fight. I'm very excited to announce that it will be published in September, in the US, UK and in several translations
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Stay in Istanbul long enough, and you will watch the contours of your past being erased: for
@EngelsbergIdeas
I wrote about Istanbul's constant cycle of demolition and rebuilding
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Yesterday was Orthodox Easter, when the emptiness of Istanbul's Greek churches are a painful reminder of the decline of the city's Rum community. But some descendants of exiled Greeks are starting to return, hoping to save the community from the brink
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The Assyrian community in Diyarbakir once numbered around 600. Now, just four families are left, and their ancient church stands in the middle of a warzone. My report from Sur
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Belatedly came to this episode of
@mrjamesob
's Full Disclosure podcast, an amazing discussion of
@hassan_akkad
's journey from Syria to working in a UK Covid ward. Everyone who agrees with Farage needs to listen.
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Since 2017, Uighurs who escaped to Turkey have been unable to contact loved ones back home, and now fear that China is pushing for their deportation back to Xinjiang. Poet
@_parach
told me his story:
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Happy adoption anniversary to Tarkan. A bit of a gaz bombası, can't be trusted with houseplants or sushi, but overall a top bloke ❤️
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Slobodan Tesic is listed under the Magnitsky designations yet has been able to obtain licenses to export Serbian state-produced weaponry to Armenia.
@MMPantovic
and I looked into his links with the Vucic government, with comment from
@MarinikaTepic
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I wouldn't normally share anything from Takvim, but...
🤔 Çılgınlık mı macera mı: Ölüdeniz'de 'koltukla' uçtu, televizyon izledi!
Muğla'nın Fethiye ilçesinde paraşüt pilotu Hasan Kaval bir ilke imza attı. Paraşütüne bağladığı koltukla atlayış yapan Kaval, yüzlerce metre yüksekte televizyon seyretti.
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In the space of a year, Erdogan's press chief has risen to become the most powerful man in the presidential court. My profile of Fahrettin Altun, the spin doctor who oversaw the Khashoggi leaks:
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In this week's
@TheEconomist
I wrote about Azerbaijan's warp speed reconstruction of Nagorno Karabakh: the motivations, the costs and the beneficiaries
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If you're after some escapism, I wrote about buying and renovating a mountain house on a Greek island - open for writers and recovering addicts once all this is over
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For months
@NicolaKelly
and I have been digging into the UK Home Office International Ops, a unit that has been supporting Turkish forces at the Iranian border where
@hrw
last year documented major abuses against refugees. Story in
@guardian
today:
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Bügün'un karantina projesi: Learning to sing the İzmir Marşı. Lucky neighbours!
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Meet Turkey's fansubbers - the volunteer translators who provide uncensored subtitles on foreign films and series. With
@esekherif_
and
@drama_junkie
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Some Twitter accounts are claiming that the Vienna attackers are Turkish - actually, the two men speaking Turkish at the end of this clip are almost certainly civilians caught up in the attack (relevant part starts at 00:50)
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Turks' support for openly gay national volleyball star
@karakurtebrar18
shows that the cultural opposition to Erdogan is still alive and kicking, even if the political opposition is not. I wrote a short piece for today's
@MonocleMag
's daily brief
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Shortly before 10pm the Turkish government announced a total curfew in 31 cities. Within minutes, this was the queue at my local grocer in Istanbul
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1) The
@ankarabarosu
interviewed lawyers of 6 former Turkish diplomats who were arrested 2 weeks ago. All their clients have given consistent accounts of being tortured in Ankara's financial crimes investigation unit, including by threats of sexual assault
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I take the view that they're not better because they're female, they're better because they're not idiots. And being an out-and-proud idiot appears to be a male-only path to power
Why do female leaders seem so good at tackling the coronavirus pandemic?
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In a safehouse in the eastern Turkish city of Van this week, an Afghan who was once a soldier in the national army told me how he fled as the Taliban advanced
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Thanks to David Gardner for this latest review of Erdogan Rising in today's
@FT
: "An engagingly written and factually scrupulous portrait... Smith’s book is full of dazzling cameos and incidental delights"
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One of the worst parts of the first lockdown in Istanbul was losing access to the Bosphorus. I wrote a piece for
@timestravel
about how the pandemic has galvanised Istanbullus' bond with the water
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Meanwhile Abramovic has moored his two yachts in Bodrum, and has so far avoided sanctions in both Turkey and the US, likely due to his mediator role
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Yesterday a vegan restaurant opened on my street and this evening I walked out to find a duck eating a salad. Coincidence? I don't think so.
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One of the proposals formulated in the meetings is for Crimea and the Donbas to be held by Moscow in a long-term lease, similar to Hong Kong before 97, and its status decided in a future referendum. Putin is considering the idea
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Just received the latest issue of the new(ish) Istanbul-based magazine Paper, and it is utterly gorgeous
#longliveprint
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The brother of
@isa_dolkun
, president of
@UyghurCongress
, has been sentenced to life imprisonment back in China, the latest in a string of retributions against the families prominent Uyghur activists
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1) If you are interested in James Le Mesurier's work, please read this thread. Last night I was approached by a respected news outlet who wanted me to go on air to discuss 'the criticisms of his work'. I refused - for the reasons outlined here
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I have no idea what a 'homosexual flotilla' is, but goodness it sounds fun
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