Abdullah Bozkurt has been a journalist for over 20 years and serves as President of the Stockholm Center for Freedom (SCF), a monitoring group that tracks human rights violations in Turkey. He is also the director of the Nordic Research and Monitoring Network, which investigates terrorism, security, crime and extremism, and the author of Turkey Interrupted: Derailing Democracy. He founded the Muhabir News Agency, which was shut down by the Turkish government in July 2016. Bozkurt was also bureau chief for the Ankara-based daily Today’s Zaman, and served as its Washington, D.C. correspondent.
Sahar Atrache is the senior advocate for the Middle East at Refugees International. Prior to joining Refugees International, Sahar was the senior advocacy officer at the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS), where she led research and advocacy efforts around Syria policy and humanitarian issues in the United States and the Middle East. Her research took her to refugee camps and conflict zones throughout the region, where she interviewed affected individuals and collaborated with local communities. From July 2007 to July 2008, Sahar also served with the United Nations in Lebanon, where she coordinated post-conflict relief and reconstruction in a Palestinian refugee camp.