İstanbul, Türkiye
Xanthe Ackerman is a writer based in Istanbul and a journalist with the Fuller Project for International Reporting. She writes about women, war, education, religion, and gender in the Middle East and Africa for publications including TIME, VICE News, the Guardian, 100Reporters, Daily Beast, and the Financial Times. Ackerman is also a senior fellow with the Syria Research & Evaluation Organization, a former scholar with The Brookings Institution and the United States Institute of Peace, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Ackerman is the founder of Advancing Girls' Education in Africa, an international non-profit empowering girls in Malawi.
Produced for Vice News
For VICE News (online) I wrote this article, talking about the many ways that the Turkish government is sacrificing the principles of secular education in favor of Sunni Islam, both by shutting down public schools and replacing them with religious seminaries, and by forcing religious course work on children up to ten hours a week.
Produced for Vice
For VICE News (online) I researched and wrote this 2,000 word article on the Syrian opposition government based in Turkey. The article gives unique insight to the financial mismanagement, corruption, and mistrust plaguing the Syrian opposition, as well as the lack of support from the US government and other Western allies to their fight against Syrian President Al-Assad.
This feature on 100Reporters.com brought new analysis to the plight of Syrian children in Turkey, considered guests rather than refugees. The Turkish government pressured the UN to keep services to circumscribed areas, and was slow to admit the full scale of children out of school. Following the article and interviews w/ officials, the government improved the legal status of children re education.
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