Lefteris Pitarakis

Associated Press
Chief Photographer for Turkey

Lefteris Pitarakis is The Associated Press Chief Photographer for Turkey, based in Istanbul. A photojournalist since 1995, he began his AP career in 1998 and following several years of covering Greece and the Balkans, he was assigned to AP’s Middle East operations. Therefrom 2000 to 2005, he mainly documented the Palestinian uprising against Israel in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and also extensively covered the greater region. Additionally, he chronicled stories of conflict in Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Tunisia, Libya and Pakistan and the aftermath of the U.S. – led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He was based in London from 2005 to 2015 covering Europe and Africa while continuing to travel to the Middle East on multiple assignments. His work has been published in major international publications and online media and has been exhibited throughout Europe and the United States. In addition to photography, he also works in video and text formats and multimedia. He has received various awards and his coverage of the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon was part of a group of AP photographers who were finalists for that year’s Pulitzer Prize. A strong advocate of ethics in photojournalism, he designs and holds workshops and regularly presents his work and lectures about the value of ethics to universities and conferences throughout the U.K., U.S., and Europe.

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