
Peter Kenyon
Peter Kenyon is NPR's international correspondent based in Istanbul, Turkey.
Prior to taking this assignment in 2010, Kenyon spent five years in Cairo covering Middle Eastern and North African countries from Syria to Morocco. He was part of NPR's team recognized with two Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University awards for outstanding coverage of post-war Iraq.
In addition to regular stints in Iraq, he has followed stories to Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Lebanon, Bahrain, Qatar, Algeria, Morocco and other countries in the region.
Arriving at NPR in 1995, Kenyon spent six years in Washington, D.C., working in a variety of positions including as a correspondent covering the US Senate during President Bill Clinton's second term and the beginning of the President George W. Bush's administration.
Kenyon came to NPR from the Alaska Public Radio Network. He began his public radio career in the small fishing community of Petersburg, where he met his wife Nevette, a commercial fisherwoman.
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Shortsighted policies have left Turkey dependent on imported food, critics say, as Turkish farmers struggle to keep alive indigenous and traditional forms of agriculture.
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The Istanbul landmark has long been hailed as a symbol of the coexistence of Christianity and Islam, a cultural junction between East and West.
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The Byzantine-era architectural marvel has been used as a museum since 1934 and is widely regarded as a symbol of peaceful religious coexistence. A court ruling Friday revoked its museum status.
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A long-running dispute over the exploration of natural gas in the eastern Mediterranean Sea is heating up again. Turkey's new claims for drilling rights have led to hostile talk with Greece.
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Turkey's next presidential elections are three years away. But President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's party might call them next year to catch the opposition parties flat-footed.
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Iranian officials say new coronavirus case numbers and deaths are lower than before, but they urge for an end to sanctions under these hard circumstances.
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Turkey is one of the hardest-hit countries in the Middle East, often reporting 4,000 or more new COVID-19 cases per day. The government hopes short-term stay-home measures will curb the outbreak.
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Sales of Turkish-made cologne are skyrocketing. Some colognes, made with 80% alcohol, are being embraced for disinfectant properties. Cologne is traditionally offered to house guests to rub on hands.
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The country has been reeling from pressure reimposed by the Trump administration. Now it is scrambling to cope with the virus that has killed dozens of Iranians, including a senior official.
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The Coronavirus is spreading, and worries are intensifying in three more hot spots: Italy, Iran and South Korea. The World Health Organization says the window to contain it is narrowing.
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Iran holds parliamentary elections today, but two things seem to be holding down turnout — a sense that the choices are limited to hardliners and a fear of a spread of the novel coronavirus.
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A week ago Iranians crowded the streets of Tehran mourning the loss of a military leader targeted in a U.S. drone strike. Over the weekend, crowds were lashing out against their government.