Ayla Jean Yackley

Ayla Jean Yackley is a freelance journalist who has covered Turkey for nearly two decades. She previously worked as a correspondent for Reuters and Bloomberg News and writes mainly about politics and the economy, with a focus on minority and human rights. Her reporting has also taken her to Iraq, Iran, Syria, Afghanistan, Russia, Germany and Cyprus.


A supporter of Turkey's main pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party holds a portrait of their jailed former leader and presidential candidate Selahattin Demirtaş during a campaign event in Istanbul, Turkey, June 17, 2018.

Jailed Kurdish politician looks to upset Erdoğan’s designs for a ‘new Turkey’

Global Politics

Selahattin Demirtaş led the Kurdish political movement to a record finish in Turkish elections just three years ago. Now, the former human rights lawyer reaches voters from behind bars with Twitter posts and campaign rallies staged during his weekly 10-minute phone allowance to his wife.