Two years after devastating earthquakes struck Turkey’s Hatay province, many of the region’s churches remain in ruins, leaving the local Christian community without vital spaces for worship and community life. For Father Nikola Papasoğlu, the grief is still unbearable. “I try not to go there,” he says, talking about the St. Nicholas Church in the city centre of İskenderun, a coastal district of Hatay province in southern Turkey. “Seeing our church in ruins gives me a sorrow that I still …

“When I went to the hospital, my friend, who is a doctor, welcomed me. Because of this, I personally did not encounter the bad treatment that we often hear about from others. The real damage I suffered was from my boyfriend, both physically and psychologically.” With these words, 29-year-old Aysel* described the violence she endured and the aftermath. Aysel, who lives in Turkey’s capital Ankara, struggles to express her emotions due to her trauma. However, she says that being welcomed …

Despite jubilation over the fall of the Assad regime, many refugees fear the uncertainty of return to a war-ravaged country. On the first day of Eid last year – when it is traditional to visit the graves of loved ones – relatives were searching for their loved ones’ resting places at a cemetery for victims of the 2023 earthquake in Hatay, southern Turkey. Rainfall had caused some of the graves to move, and the visitors were wading through puddles of …

The split between secular and conservative religious values may be one of Turkey’s great political divides, but it’s also proving to be the source of must-watch television. In recent years, popular drama series like “Cranberry Sorbet” and “Red Roses” have attracted viewers by placing this divide at the centre of their plot lines. “Cranberry Sorbet” focuses on the relationship between Fatih, a conservative man, and Doğa, a secular woman, and their efforts to establish a family. The show handles the …

Vaccines against the human papillomavirus (HPV), which causes genital warts and can lead to cancer, are offered to girls free of charge in 125 countries worldwide. Yet despite government promises, Turkey has yet to add the vaccine to its national immunisation programme. In November 2022, the then-health minister Fahrettin Koca promised that the HPV vaccine would be offered free of charge in Turkey. Experts believe that the vaccine, rolled out globally, could save the lives of 340,000 women a year …

A group of women sit and chat in front of their stone-walled homes, wearing brightly-coloured floral dresses and traditional white headscarves. When the setting sun hits them, it lights up the lines inked onto their hands and faces – as well as images of the sun itself, tattooed onto their foreheads. A common practice in the Mesopotamia region that straddles Turkey, Iraq and Syria, especially among Kurds, “deq” is the Kurdish word for tattoo. Prevalent in Turkey’s south-eastern provinces of …

“After I got married, I looked at my ID card to see that there was nothing left of mine except my first name,” says Oya Ersoy. Ersoy, now 54, is a human rights lawyer. In the 1990s she became a figurehead for women who want to keep their maiden names after marriage, taking her case all the way to the European Court of Human Rights. Oya Ersoy (Her personal archive) Decades later, that struggle continues. Today, when women in Turkey …

In a dimly lit hookah and coffee house in southern Turkey’s Hatay province, a middle-aged woman sits with her head bowed. Her eyes tear up before she even begins to speak. The scars of the devastating earthquake that struck Hatay in early 2023 are still visible – not only in the collapsed buildings, but in the lives of women like Selma*, who are facing an epidemic of violence amid the chaos. “We were always cautious around him,” Selma says of …

A government campaign to encourage women to give birth via vaginal delivery has drawn criticism on the grounds that it stigmatises mothers who choose caesareans. In October 2024, Turkey’s Ministry of Health launched a “Normal Birth Action Plan” to encourage women to give birth via vaginal delivery. The campaign, announced in a public service ad titled “Mum, we did it”, prompted a backlash on social media. The Turkish Psychiatric Association also criticised the public service ad for being unscientific and …

Amid a difficult environment for media in Turkey, with both economic challenges and political repression, journalists are often forced to move abroad to continue their work. Fellowship programmes and grants, which offer resources such as professional training, funds to cover relocation and living costs, or psychological and legal support, can be a vital lifeline. But do these initiatives come with their own limitations too – particularly for women? “I find that the most crucial issue is that the visa provided …