![An undated image of Tsurkov.](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2023-07/tsurkov.jpeg?h=4bd20877&itok=xefUY24H)
![Amberin Zaman 2](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2024-06/AmberinZaman2-480x480.jpg?h=7f412c8f&itok=e2cJgWXs)
Amberin Zaman is Al-Monitor’s chief correspondent based in London and covers major stories on the Middle East and North Africa from across the region and beyond. Zaman’s reporting focuses on geopolitical trends, diplomacy and human rights. She has covered conflicts in Iraq, Syria and the South Caucasus. Zaman is widely acknowledged for her courageous work on Turkey and the Kurds for which she was named a “Hero” by the Coalition for Women in Journalism. Prior to joining Al-Monitor as a full time reporter in 2018, Zaman was The Economist’s Turkey correspondent for 16 years. Zaman was also a regular contributor to The Washington Post, The Daily Telegraph, The Los Angeles Times and Voice of America and penned weekly columns in the Turkish language media. Zaman, who studied political science at Franklin College in Lugano Switzerland, speaks fluent French, Turkish and Bengali. Follow her on Twitter @amberinzaman and Instagram @amberinzamanjournalist.
![An undated image of Tsurkov.](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2023-07/tsurkov.jpeg?h=4bd20877&itok=xefUY24H)
![This picture taken on Jan. 26, 2019, shows journalists filming outside the departure lounge and control tower of Sulaimaniyah International Airport.](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2023-07/GettyImages-1089436424.jpg?h=efb3fb8f&itok=L1j-tQai)
![Men chat as they sit on a bench in front of the New Mosque, bearing Turkish flags, in the Eminonu district in Istanbul, on January 10, 2023. (Photo by OZAN KOSE / AFP) (Photo by OZAN KOSE/AFP via Getty Images)](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2023-07/GettyImages-1246128048.jpg?h=1d34674f&itok=l6jjHTHt)
![(L-R) Turkey's NATO Ambassador Zeki Levent Gumrukcu, Britain's Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs James Cleverly, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Sweden's Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom, NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoana and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg attend an Informal Meeting of the North Atlantic Council in Foreign Ministers in Oslo, Norway on June 1, 2023.](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2023-06/GettyImages-1258347167_0.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=Dm5AU3t7)
![Amberin Zaman](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2024-06/AmberinZaman2-480x480.jpg?h=7f412c8f&itok=e2cJgWXs)
![Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2023-06/GettyImages-1257890702.jpg?h=fcf0f332&itok=_H9VyJDe)
![Ferries and tourist boats navigate the Bosphorus on June 22, 2023 in Istanbul, Turkey.](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2023-06/GettyImages-1500659581.jpg?h=1d34674f&itok=UAM-fPdy)
![Astana talks](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2023-06/GettyImages-1139465709.jpg?h=1d34674f&itok=VSw9kMvT)
![Iraqi Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani (L) meets with Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) in Ankara, June 20, 2023.](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2023-06/erdogan_barzani.jpeg?h=a5ae579a&itok=Tv3neIpy)
![Turkey's newly appointed Foreign Affairs Minister Hakan Fidan delivers a speech during a handover ceremony in Ankara on June 5, 2023.](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2023-06/GettyImages-1258453482_0.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=fEpkPUON)
![Amberin Zaman & Arash Azizi](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2023-06/Amberin-and-Arash-3000x1570.jpg?h=c3d8d5f5&itok=7JQWQNzA)
![Amberin Zaman](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2024-06/AmberinZaman2-480x480.jpg?h=7f412c8f&itok=e2cJgWXs)
![TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY SERENE ASSIR A Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters guards a post flying the PKK flag during the ongoing intensive security deployment against Islamic State (IS) militants in the town of Makhmur, southwest Arbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, on August 21, 2014. Kurdish groups from Iraq and three neighbouring countries are putting aside old rivalries to battle jihadist militants, but there are cracks in this newly-forged unity and it may not last. A](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2023-06/GettyImages-454366816.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=eLNplwlg)
![Turkey pride](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2023-06/GettyImages-1152948648_0.jpg?h=1d34674f&itok=2VZWcN9M)