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Faranak Amidi presents global stories from the Fifth Floor, home to the BBC’s 40 Language Services

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The Fifth Floor: Life in Turkey Since the Istanbul Ataturk Airport Attack

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Turkish mourners carrying coffin. Credit: Getty Image

01/07/2016 GMT

Life in Turkey Since the Istanbul Ataturk Airport Attack

BBC World Service - The Fifth Floor, Life in Turkey Since the Istanbul Ataturk Airport Attack

'There is a feeling there is just nowhere safe.'

Turkey, a country under attack; Afghan Ramadan; the art of the Ghazal; Sunni Shia or "sushi" families; and restocking Tbilisi zoo, with David Amanor.

This week the attack at Istanbul's main airport got the world's attention. The shocking images and the rising number of dead and injured added to Turkey's unenviable toll of recent terror attacks.  Two Turkish journalists who felt the impact professionally and personally are Mahmout Hamsici of BBC Turkish and Pina Sevinçlidir of BBC Monitoring in Istanbul. They share their feelings on what the ongoing attacks mean for their country.

Afghan Ramadan 
This year Ramadan has fallen during the summer months and right in the middle of exam season in Afghanistan.  With temperatures reaching 45 degrees, students in the Balkh region took to the streets to demand that the university shut for Ramadan.  But they haven't found much sympathy from the older generation whose own education was fitted in around civil war and the Taliban.  Firuz Rahimi of BBC Afghan explores the story, and remembers his own student days in Balkh.

BBC Ghazal Performers 
After receiving  a tip-off that a couple of colleagues from BBC Urdu and BBC Hindi had been overheard singing ghazals recently, we thought it only right to track them down. We have brought together Ziad Zafar - who decided against singing on air but knows all about ghazals - and Samrah Fatima, the real songbird among their number.

Tbilisi Zoo 
During a devastating flood last year, Tbilisi Zoo hit international headlines.  Pictures of a hippopotamus roaming the streets were sent worldwide. Hundreds of animals died in the disaster, as well as three zoo employees. As the zoo welcomes new animals and prepares for a new site, BBC Russian's Nina Akhmeteli remembers the flood and tells us about the place of the zoo in her life.

Sunni-Shia Marriages and 'Sushi ' Children 
The historic division between Sunnis and Shias is an increasingly important element in conflicts in the Middle East.  An unlikely topic for humour, but a Saudi sketch show called Selfie has taken aim at this sensitive issue with a comic story of babies swapped at birth. BBC Arabic's Kindah Shair, who was brought up in Saudi Arabia, discusses reactions with Ghazanfar Hyder of BBC Urdu, whose parents married across the divide. 

And Fifi Haroon's pick of the world wide web.

Image: Turkish mourners carrying a coffin
Credit: Getty Image

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