Liz Cookman
@lizcookman.bsky.social
🖋️Correspondent: Ukraine, Turkey, Middle East
📍 Kyiv and Istanbul
🏆Best Print & Best Specialist Journalist, Freelance Journalism Awards 2024
🏆Amnesty Gaby Rado award 2023
📍 Kyiv and Istanbul
🏆Best Print & Best Specialist Journalist, Freelance Journalism Awards 2024
🏆Amnesty Gaby Rado award 2023
I am a finalist for a British Journalism Award! I am so honoured!
For feature journalism from Ukraine, Syria and Somalia for the @theguardian.com and the @telegraphnews.bsky.social.
So many brilliant journalists here 👉 pressgazette.co.uk/press-gazett...
For feature journalism from Ukraine, Syria and Somalia for the @theguardian.com and the @telegraphnews.bsky.social.
So many brilliant journalists here 👉 pressgazette.co.uk/press-gazett...
October 24, 2025 at 7:04 AM
I am a finalist for a British Journalism Award! I am so honoured!
For feature journalism from Ukraine, Syria and Somalia for the @theguardian.com and the @telegraphnews.bsky.social.
So many brilliant journalists here 👉 pressgazette.co.uk/press-gazett...
For feature journalism from Ukraine, Syria and Somalia for the @theguardian.com and the @telegraphnews.bsky.social.
So many brilliant journalists here 👉 pressgazette.co.uk/press-gazett...
There is a fundraiser to help George Ivanchenko, the Ukrainian photographer who was badly injured in a drone strike last week in Donbas - the same one that killed Antoni Lallican.
Please help if you can: send.monobank.ua/jar/6qRivvU8...
Please help if you can: send.monobank.ua/jar/6qRivvU8...
October 8, 2025 at 11:06 AM
There is a fundraiser to help George Ivanchenko, the Ukrainian photographer who was badly injured in a drone strike last week in Donbas - the same one that killed Antoni Lallican.
Please help if you can: send.monobank.ua/jar/6qRivvU8...
Please help if you can: send.monobank.ua/jar/6qRivvU8...
I’ve been longlisted for Freelance Journalist of the Year at this year’s @rorypecktrust.bsky.social Awards, alongside some incredible journalists with work I really admire. 🎉🎉😎😎
Freelancers are 💪🏽💪🏽
rorypecktrust.org/awards/2025-...
Freelancers are 💪🏽💪🏽
rorypecktrust.org/awards/2025-...
September 18, 2025 at 4:36 PM
I’ve been longlisted for Freelance Journalist of the Year at this year’s @rorypecktrust.bsky.social Awards, alongside some incredible journalists with work I really admire. 🎉🎉😎😎
Freelancers are 💪🏽💪🏽
rorypecktrust.org/awards/2025-...
Freelancers are 💪🏽💪🏽
rorypecktrust.org/awards/2025-...
Thousand are on the streets in Kyiv for a second night, incl. wounded veterans, to protest Zelenskyy’s signing of a controversial bill on the independence of Ukraine’s anti-corruption institutions.
Some compared him to Yanukovych, who was ousted during the Maidan Revolution.
Some compared him to Yanukovych, who was ousted during the Maidan Revolution.
July 23, 2025 at 6:54 PM
Thousand are on the streets in Kyiv for a second night, incl. wounded veterans, to protest Zelenskyy’s signing of a controversial bill on the independence of Ukraine’s anti-corruption institutions.
Some compared him to Yanukovych, who was ousted during the Maidan Revolution.
Some compared him to Yanukovych, who was ousted during the Maidan Revolution.
The only VIP to turn up in Istanbul today for the Russia-Ukraine peace talks.
May 15, 2025 at 7:12 PM
The only VIP to turn up in Istanbul today for the Russia-Ukraine peace talks.
Turkish state TV may have just accidentally settled the debate over whether Erdogan is on Russia's side or Ukraine's.
May 15, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Turkish state TV may have just accidentally settled the debate over whether Erdogan is on Russia's side or Ukraine's.
Istanbul just suffered a 6.0 earthquake.
Everyone is out in the street worried a bigger one is coming - a devastatingly huge one is predicted at some point in soon. Or that buildings might collapse.
Everyone is out in the street worried a bigger one is coming - a devastatingly huge one is predicted at some point in soon. Or that buildings might collapse.
April 23, 2025 at 10:28 AM
Istanbul just suffered a 6.0 earthquake.
Everyone is out in the street worried a bigger one is coming - a devastatingly huge one is predicted at some point in soon. Or that buildings might collapse.
Everyone is out in the street worried a bigger one is coming - a devastatingly huge one is predicted at some point in soon. Or that buildings might collapse.
I had an amazing weekend in Paris studying childhood, migration, trauma and ethical reporting with @columbiajournalism.bsky.social’s @dartcenter.bsky.social. I learned a lot, met great people and it felt really poignant amid aid cuts and an increasingly inhumane migration debate.
April 9, 2025 at 12:33 PM
I had an amazing weekend in Paris studying childhood, migration, trauma and ethical reporting with @columbiajournalism.bsky.social’s @dartcenter.bsky.social. I learned a lot, met great people and it felt really poignant amid aid cuts and an increasingly inhumane migration debate.
I’m with protesting students who are marching over Istanbul’s historic Galata Bridge now, as taxis honk in solidarity.
It’s the sixth night of protests tonight in Turkey after the jailing of Ekrem Imamoglu and the first time this has happened.
It’s the sixth night of protests tonight in Turkey after the jailing of Ekrem Imamoglu and the first time this has happened.
March 24, 2025 at 5:46 PM
I’m with protesting students who are marching over Istanbul’s historic Galata Bridge now, as taxis honk in solidarity.
It’s the sixth night of protests tonight in Turkey after the jailing of Ekrem Imamoglu and the first time this has happened.
It’s the sixth night of protests tonight in Turkey after the jailing of Ekrem Imamoglu and the first time this has happened.
The most iconic photo of Turkey’s protest so far.
Ümit Bektaş for Reuters.
Ümit Bektaş for Reuters.
March 24, 2025 at 10:39 AM
The most iconic photo of Turkey’s protest so far.
Ümit Bektaş for Reuters.
Ümit Bektaş for Reuters.
Huge news for Turkey:
Abdullah Ocalan, head of the PKK, has called on the Kurdish militant group to lay down arms and dissolve itself. A giant leap towards ending one of the world’s longest running conflicts.
More than 40k people have been killed in decades of fighting.
Abdullah Ocalan, head of the PKK, has called on the Kurdish militant group to lay down arms and dissolve itself. A giant leap towards ending one of the world’s longest running conflicts.
More than 40k people have been killed in decades of fighting.
February 27, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Huge news for Turkey:
Abdullah Ocalan, head of the PKK, has called on the Kurdish militant group to lay down arms and dissolve itself. A giant leap towards ending one of the world’s longest running conflicts.
More than 40k people have been killed in decades of fighting.
Abdullah Ocalan, head of the PKK, has called on the Kurdish militant group to lay down arms and dissolve itself. A giant leap towards ending one of the world’s longest running conflicts.
More than 40k people have been killed in decades of fighting.
Happy New Year from Istanbul!
December 31, 2024 at 9:10 PM
Happy New Year from Istanbul!
My dispatch from Assad’s killing fields in the Damascus suburb of Tadamon.
Children pick human bones out from the rubble at ‘Execution Road’, where local residents were slaughtered, raped and tortured with impunity for more than a decade. #syria
Children pick human bones out from the rubble at ‘Execution Road’, where local residents were slaughtered, raped and tortured with impunity for more than a decade. #syria
December 30, 2024 at 1:06 PM
My dispatch from Assad’s killing fields in the Damascus suburb of Tadamon.
Children pick human bones out from the rubble at ‘Execution Road’, where local residents were slaughtered, raped and tortured with impunity for more than a decade. #syria
Children pick human bones out from the rubble at ‘Execution Road’, where local residents were slaughtered, raped and tortured with impunity for more than a decade. #syria
Late sharing (it didn’t feel very🎄) but this is my first dispatch from Syria after the fall of Assad.
From Sednaya to mass graves, chemical attack sites and widespread destruction, evidence of horror after horror is being revealed under the ashes of the old regime.
From Sednaya to mass graves, chemical attack sites and widespread destruction, evidence of horror after horror is being revealed under the ashes of the old regime.
December 28, 2024 at 9:36 AM
Late sharing (it didn’t feel very🎄) but this is my first dispatch from Syria after the fall of Assad.
From Sednaya to mass graves, chemical attack sites and widespread destruction, evidence of horror after horror is being revealed under the ashes of the old regime.
From Sednaya to mass graves, chemical attack sites and widespread destruction, evidence of horror after horror is being revealed under the ashes of the old regime.
In Damascus, perhaps the largest indoor Christmas tree I’ve ever seen.
A restaurant run by Armenian Christians, serving Arab food and frequented by Sunnis. A small snapshot of Syria’s diversity.
A restaurant run by Armenian Christians, serving Arab food and frequented by Sunnis. A small snapshot of Syria’s diversity.
December 24, 2024 at 9:52 AM
In Damascus, perhaps the largest indoor Christmas tree I’ve ever seen.
A restaurant run by Armenian Christians, serving Arab food and frequented by Sunnis. A small snapshot of Syria’s diversity.
A restaurant run by Armenian Christians, serving Arab food and frequented by Sunnis. A small snapshot of Syria’s diversity.
I’m in Damascus - an incredible city at an incredible time. Thousands have been out to continue celebrations after the fall of Assad.
A man on stage declares: “We swear to god that Muslim, Jew, Christian, Alawite, Shia, or any group, it doesn’t matter, we will protect their rights.”
A man on stage declares: “We swear to god that Muslim, Jew, Christian, Alawite, Shia, or any group, it doesn’t matter, we will protect their rights.”
December 21, 2024 at 8:06 PM
I’m in Damascus - an incredible city at an incredible time. Thousands have been out to continue celebrations after the fall of Assad.
A man on stage declares: “We swear to god that Muslim, Jew, Christian, Alawite, Shia, or any group, it doesn’t matter, we will protect their rights.”
A man on stage declares: “We swear to god that Muslim, Jew, Christian, Alawite, Shia, or any group, it doesn’t matter, we will protect their rights.”
December 8, 2024 at 9:40 PM
Such attentive staff on the Istanbul metro.
November 23, 2024 at 9:27 AM
Such attentive staff on the Istanbul metro.
A mural of Putin in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, alongside leader İbrahim Traore, who seized power in a 2022 coup. The country said last week they see Moscow as an agent for progress.
📷 @emrecaylak.bsky.social
📷 @emrecaylak.bsky.social
November 21, 2024 at 6:20 PM
A mural of Putin in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, alongside leader İbrahim Traore, who seized power in a 2022 coup. The country said last week they see Moscow as an agent for progress.
📷 @emrecaylak.bsky.social
📷 @emrecaylak.bsky.social
1,000 days of war in Ukraine.
1000s of photos of the horror people continue to live through on my phone.
1000s of photos of the horror people continue to live through on my phone.
November 19, 2024 at 9:25 AM
1,000 days of war in Ukraine.
1000s of photos of the horror people continue to live through on my phone.
1000s of photos of the horror people continue to live through on my phone.