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CNN Sunday Morning
Interview With David Turnley
Aired July 13, 2003 - 09:17 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: The war in Iraq is the focus of a new book by Pulitzer-prize-winning journalist David Turnley. He was on assignment for CNN during the conflict. And the pictures he took in that intense, dramatic time are featured in his new book now, called "Baghdad Blues: A War Diary". And David Turnley joins us now to talk about some of his work.
Good to see you, David.
DAVID TURNLEY, CNN PHOTOJOURNALIST: Good morning, Fredricka. How are you that.
WHITFIELD: I'm doing pretty good. So you go out to do this assignment documenting the trappings of war and prewar, and then this really turns out to be a real diary for you. Every day kind of writing down some of your thoughts and taking pictures that turn out to be pretty indelible images, right?
TURNLEY: Yes. This book was the culmination of effectively three months in the Mideast. I had this tremendous opportunity from CNN to go to the region first to do human stories in the border states, Syria and Turkey. And then as the war ensued, the task was how to get into northern Iraq to cover the war.
We couldn't get a visa into Iran, so we ended up being smuggled across rivers, took us about six days, and it was really very harrowing just to get into the northern part of the country to start to cover the war.
As this was happening, I started to write a diary really very much for myself, and at some level for my 9-year-old son who I wanted someday to be able to know a little bit about what I do and how I feel when I do it.
WHITFIELD: Let's talk about some of the images, some of your favorites that you put in the book. One, this woman carrying stuff on her back. Explain what you saw.
TURNLEY: This is a photograph I made in a Kurdish village along the border between Turkey and northern Iraq. The Kurdish history and situation is very complex and very compelling and engaging, and the Kurdish people are unbelievably photogenic. I've never photographed a culture anywhere in the world in which the people love to be photographed like the Kurds.
WHITFIELD: So often when you're in conflict areas, people want anything but to be photographed. So you had to kind of develop a level of trust, didn't you, as you took these pictures?
TURNLEY: The Kurds are interesting. In northern Iraq, where the Kurds are, in fact, the population, these people particularly since '91 since the Americans have protected that zone have felt that they had a lot to be gained by this war. And they feel a certain affinity to -- or at least a sense that they were being supported by the Americans.
So, in terms of their relationship with people like myself, journalists from the Western world, they certainly felt like they were being given a voice that they wanted to be heard.
WHITFIELD: Talking about affinity, let's look at this picture of some kids that you shot. Looked like they were so happy to be photographed and happy to see you.
TURNLEY: Well, I suppose one of the really interesting and truisms of war that sometimes comes as a surprise, is that people actually have an unbelievable ability to cope in the midst of all of this drama and hardship. And I suppose it's a way that people simply do carry on and survive by carrying on with daily lives and finding moments of humor, of fun, of togetherness. And so I was able to make photographs like this. These were children, again, in a village on the border between northern Iraq and Turkey.
WHITFIELD: And what was it about the image of this one redheaded man, and a number of other younger men standing alongside him that caught your eye?
TURNLEY: I spent three weeks during the war in a frontline town called Kefir (ph) on the northern front. And my interest in working that way was to try to get to know this community. As opposed to sort of move around and having these very sort of punctual interactions with various groups of people. I really wanted to get to know one community. So we stayed in this town for three weeks.
We would go into the marketplace every day. This was a Kurdish soldier who had patrolled the streets. I suppose one of the most striking elements of this image for me and why I made the photograph was simply that the Kurds, by and large, are not redheaded, they're dark-headed people, so he really stood out.
WHITFIELD: And then the mourning and the grieving, this image, looking like a preparation for burial?
TURNLEY: Yes, this was a very dramatic day. There had been on this frontline town a back and forth between the Iraqi frontline and this Kurdish community. And American B-52s were dropping bombs on the Iraqi position.
On this particular morning, the Iraqis retaliated with mortars that they launched into this town. Several people were instantly killed, including this 26-year-old schoolteacher, whose life was changed, obviously, from one moment to the next. And then, in effect, his community was changed from one moment to the next. This family immediately went into the task of preparing the body for burial. WHITFIELD: And it's quite shocking that you were able to get this close and get this kind of very intimate, private moment.
TURNLEY: My sense has always been in conflict zones that people at some level, extend a certain respect, a certain sense of connection with people like myself, who they understand to be there at some level taking the same risk they are. And also giving them a voice, which is what people all over the world always want.
WHITFIELD: David Turnley, thanks very much. The book is "Baghdad Blues: A War Dairy."
Thanks so much for joining us and expressing some of your personal views on this. And hello to your brother, I worked alongside him during the Kosovo war.
TURNLEY: Thank you, Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: And I got a chance to watch him work.
TURNLEY: Well, I've heard only great things about you from all my colleagues. It's really nice to talk to you.
WHITFIELD: All right. Well, thanks a lot, David.
Good luck to you.
TURNLEY: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired July 13, 2003 - 09:17 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: The war in Iraq is the focus of a new book by Pulitzer-prize-winning journalist David Turnley. He was on assignment for CNN during the conflict. And the pictures he took in that intense, dramatic time are featured in his new book now, called "Baghdad Blues: A War Diary". And David Turnley joins us now to talk about some of his work.
Good to see you, David.
DAVID TURNLEY, CNN PHOTOJOURNALIST: Good morning, Fredricka. How are you that.
WHITFIELD: I'm doing pretty good. So you go out to do this assignment documenting the trappings of war and prewar, and then this really turns out to be a real diary for you. Every day kind of writing down some of your thoughts and taking pictures that turn out to be pretty indelible images, right?
TURNLEY: Yes. This book was the culmination of effectively three months in the Mideast. I had this tremendous opportunity from CNN to go to the region first to do human stories in the border states, Syria and Turkey. And then as the war ensued, the task was how to get into northern Iraq to cover the war.
We couldn't get a visa into Iran, so we ended up being smuggled across rivers, took us about six days, and it was really very harrowing just to get into the northern part of the country to start to cover the war.
As this was happening, I started to write a diary really very much for myself, and at some level for my 9-year-old son who I wanted someday to be able to know a little bit about what I do and how I feel when I do it.
WHITFIELD: Let's talk about some of the images, some of your favorites that you put in the book. One, this woman carrying stuff on her back. Explain what you saw.
TURNLEY: This is a photograph I made in a Kurdish village along the border between Turkey and northern Iraq. The Kurdish history and situation is very complex and very compelling and engaging, and the Kurdish people are unbelievably photogenic. I've never photographed a culture anywhere in the world in which the people love to be photographed like the Kurds.
WHITFIELD: So often when you're in conflict areas, people want anything but to be photographed. So you had to kind of develop a level of trust, didn't you, as you took these pictures?
TURNLEY: The Kurds are interesting. In northern Iraq, where the Kurds are, in fact, the population, these people particularly since '91 since the Americans have protected that zone have felt that they had a lot to be gained by this war. And they feel a certain affinity to -- or at least a sense that they were being supported by the Americans.
So, in terms of their relationship with people like myself, journalists from the Western world, they certainly felt like they were being given a voice that they wanted to be heard.
WHITFIELD: Talking about affinity, let's look at this picture of some kids that you shot. Looked like they were so happy to be photographed and happy to see you.
TURNLEY: Well, I suppose one of the really interesting and truisms of war that sometimes comes as a surprise, is that people actually have an unbelievable ability to cope in the midst of all of this drama and hardship. And I suppose it's a way that people simply do carry on and survive by carrying on with daily lives and finding moments of humor, of fun, of togetherness. And so I was able to make photographs like this. These were children, again, in a village on the border between northern Iraq and Turkey.
WHITFIELD: And what was it about the image of this one redheaded man, and a number of other younger men standing alongside him that caught your eye?
TURNLEY: I spent three weeks during the war in a frontline town called Kefir (ph) on the northern front. And my interest in working that way was to try to get to know this community. As opposed to sort of move around and having these very sort of punctual interactions with various groups of people. I really wanted to get to know one community. So we stayed in this town for three weeks.
We would go into the marketplace every day. This was a Kurdish soldier who had patrolled the streets. I suppose one of the most striking elements of this image for me and why I made the photograph was simply that the Kurds, by and large, are not redheaded, they're dark-headed people, so he really stood out.
WHITFIELD: And then the mourning and the grieving, this image, looking like a preparation for burial?
TURNLEY: Yes, this was a very dramatic day. There had been on this frontline town a back and forth between the Iraqi frontline and this Kurdish community. And American B-52s were dropping bombs on the Iraqi position.
On this particular morning, the Iraqis retaliated with mortars that they launched into this town. Several people were instantly killed, including this 26-year-old schoolteacher, whose life was changed, obviously, from one moment to the next. And then, in effect, his community was changed from one moment to the next. This family immediately went into the task of preparing the body for burial. WHITFIELD: And it's quite shocking that you were able to get this close and get this kind of very intimate, private moment.
TURNLEY: My sense has always been in conflict zones that people at some level, extend a certain respect, a certain sense of connection with people like myself, who they understand to be there at some level taking the same risk they are. And also giving them a voice, which is what people all over the world always want.
WHITFIELD: David Turnley, thanks very much. The book is "Baghdad Blues: A War Dairy."
Thanks so much for joining us and expressing some of your personal views on this. And hello to your brother, I worked alongside him during the Kosovo war.
TURNLEY: Thank you, Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: And I got a chance to watch him work.
TURNLEY: Well, I've heard only great things about you from all my colleagues. It's really nice to talk to you.
WHITFIELD: All right. Well, thanks a lot, David.
Good luck to you.
TURNLEY: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
