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Durrie Bouscaren

Reporter

Durrie Bouscaren is an Istanbul-based reporter for The World. She covers migration, politics and social change in Turkey, Iran and the Middle East. Before moving to Turkey, Bouscaren covered local news for St. Louis Public Radio and Iowa Public Radio. She was the 2018 John Alexander Fellow for NPR, where she spent two months in Papua New Guinea investigating gender based violence. When not reporting, she can be found riding her bike along Istanbul’s old city walls, or figuring out how to grow grapes on her roof.

Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi has been sentenced to death in Iran.

Iranian rapper receives death sentence for his work and support of human rights 

Justice

The work of 33-year-old Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi is as poetic as it is technically challenging — covering topics ranging from government corruption to the 2022 Mahsa Amini protests, he channels the voice of Iran’s disillusioned youth. This week, a revolutionary court in Isfahan overruled a previous court decision granting leniency for Salehi, and sentenced him to death.

A local soda is making a comeback in Turkey

Food
Man cuts quartz in factory.

Lungs of stone: How Silica has sickened a generation of quartz cutters

Health & Medicine
collapsed building

Parents seek justice for children crushed in collapsed hotel during Turkish earthquake

shepherd with sheep amid rubble

A year on, a Kurdish village near Turkey’s earthquake epicenter says it’s been overlooked

Turkish breakfasts are elaborate and offer a wide variety of options eaten over the course of an hour or two. Diners are not expected to eat everything on the table. 

In Istanbul, the classic ‘Turkish breakfast’ comes under fire for food waste

Food

Turkey is famous for its elaborate breakfasts, featuring a huge spread of a wide variety of foods that can take hours to eat. Critics say the traditional breakfast is indulgent and leads to food waste. Others say it’s part of the culture and here to stay.

Antakya’s Uzun Çarşı, a historic covered bazaar, was partially destroyed during the Feb. 6 earthquakes. Workers have cleared much of the debris from walkways and shopkeepers have reopened, sometimes directly across from piles of rubble.

In Turkey’s hardest-hit province, earthquake survivors adapt to a life without buildings

Natural disasters

Six months after twin earthquakes devastated southern Turkey and northern Syria, the residents who remain are carving out a life amid the rubble.

building that was destroyed

Life returns to Antakya, a city nearly leveled by earthquakes in southern Turkey

Natural disasters

​​​​​​​Two months after devastating earthquakes killed more than 57,000 people in Turkey and Syria, survivors are living in tent camps and shipping containers outside the ruins of their former homes. As mobile businesses and streetside kebab shops return to the city of Antakya, some people are determined to stay in their hometown to grieve and rebuild. 

Men remove debris as they search for people in a destroyed building in Adana, Turkey, Feb. 6, 2023.

After deadly quake in Turkey, rescue teams struggle to help amid frigid temps

Natural disasters

The death toll has surpassed 5,000, with thousands of others injured after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck large parts of southeastern Turkey and northern Syria on Monday. Rescue teams are trying to find people buried under the rubble of collapsed buildings.

Syrian children who are refugees in Turkey face many barriers to learning.

In Turkey, refugee children face hurdles to school enrollment

Refugees

Many Syrian families in Turkey face school enrollment challenges due to a Turkish law that says no more than 30% of schoolchildren in a single class can be foreigners. Families in border cities like Gaziantep say their children are being turned away with few alternatives.