The Bosphorus boat spotter tracking Russian military trucks

The Bosphorus boat spotter tracking Russian military trucks

Yörük Işık is a ship spotter who logs all the boats that pass through the narrow Bosphorus Strait near his home in Istanbul, Turkey.

In October 2015, he noticed something unusual - Russian military trucks on a civilian ship bound for Syria.

The photos he took were the first evidence that Russia was supplying armed forces to support President Bashar al-Assad. It followed months of denial from Moscow that they were planning to engage militarily on the ground in Syria’s civil war.

Emily Wither speaks to Yörük about how his hobby became a news source.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.

Recent episodes explore everything from football in Brazil, the history of the ‘Indian Titanic’ and the invention of air fryers, to Public Enemy’s Fight The Power, subway art and the political crisis in Georgia. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: visionary architect Antoni Gaudi and the design of the Sagrada Familia; Michael Jordan and his bespoke Nike trainers; Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal; and Görel Hanser, manager of legendary Swedish pop band Abba on the influence they’ve had on the music industry. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the time an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at the President of the United States in protest of America’s occupation of Iraq; the creation of the Hollywood commercial that changed advertising forever; and the ascent of the first Aboriginal MP.

(Photo: Ship with Russian military trucks on. Credit: Yörük Işık)

Avsnitt(2000)

The Bridge Which United Sweden and Denmark

The Bridge Which United Sweden and Denmark

In 1993 work began to build Europe's longest road and rail bridge. The Oresund Bridge links Sweden to Denmark connecting them by land for the first time in thousands of years. In an unlikely twist, it also inspired a hit TV drama which has been broadcast in more than 150 countries. Claire Bowes spoke to Ajs Dam, head of information at the consortium which built the bridge.Photo: Oresundsbron by night from Lernacken (courtesy of Pierre Mens/Øresundsbron)

28 Sep 201811min

Fighting in the Iran-Iraq War

Fighting in the Iran-Iraq War

The war lasted for eight years. The death toll is estimated at over a million people. It began when Saddam Hussein sent planes and troops into Iran in September 1980. Ahmed Almushatat was a young Iraqi medic who was sent to the front line towards the end of the war. He spoke to Louise Hidalgo.Photo: An Iraqi tank in action. Credit:AFP/Getty Images

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The Creation of the Cervical Cancer Vaccine

The Creation of the Cervical Cancer Vaccine

How a scientific breakthrough led to the invention of the revolutionary cancer vaccine. In the 1980s, it was established that cervical cancer was caused by the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) which is usually spread through sexual intercourse. In 1989, scientists Ian Frazer and Jian Zhou at the University of Queensland began working on the basis of a possible vaccine for HPV Their solution was to use parts of the virus's own genetic code to create a virus like particle (vlp) which would trigger an immune response. Alex Last has been speaking to Professor Ian Frazer about their discovery.(Photo: Electron micrograph of virus like particles formed from the outer protein coat of the human papillomavirus (HPV). The proteins form a virus-like particle that does not contain any genetic material. Credit: Science Photo Library)

26 Sep 20189min

Isadora Duncan - Dance Pioneer

Isadora Duncan - Dance Pioneer

Sometimes called the 'Mother of Modern Dance' she was born and brought up in the USA. Isadora Duncan performed across Europe in the early 20th Century, and her free-flowing movements caused a sensation among dancers and choreographers alike. Simon Watts brings together archive accounts of the dancer whose private life was almost as controversial as her dancing.Photo: Isadora Duncan. Credit: Getty Images

25 Sep 20188min

The South African Army In Lesotho

The South African Army In Lesotho

South Africa sent 600 soldiers into Lesotho to quell political unrest in September 1998. Mamello Morrison was an opposition protestor. She spoke to David Whitty in 2014 about the ensuing violence. This programme is a rebroadcast. Photo: Members of South African National Defence Force (SANDF) deployed in Lesotho. Credit: Walter Dhladhla/AFP

24 Sep 20188min

Brazil's Nuclear Accident

Brazil's Nuclear Accident

In September of 1987, two waste pickers in the Brazilian town of Goiania broke into a disused medical clinic and stole a radiotherapy machine, triggering the biggest ever radioactive accident outside a nuclear facility.Hundreds of people were contaminated and four people died. Thomas Pappon spoke to one of the victims and the physicist who was the first to assess the scale of the accident. Photo of technicians collecting nuclear waste in the contaminated scrap yard in Goiania. Copyright CNEN.

21 Sep 20188min

The Arnhem Parachute Drop

The Arnhem Parachute Drop

Thousands of Allied troops parachuted into the Nazi-occupied Netherlands in September 1944. At that point, it was the most ambitious Allied airborne offensive of World War Two. British, American and Polish troops were dropped behind German lines in an attempt to capture a series of bridges on the Dutch/German border. Mike Lanchin has spoken to Hetty Bischoff van Heemskerck who, as a young woman, watched the Allied paratroopers come down close to her home in the city of Arnhem.(Photo: Allied planes and parachutists over Arnhem, Getty Images)

20 Sep 20188min

The Battle of Algiers

The Battle of Algiers

In September 1966, a film was released that has come to be seen as one of the great political masterpieces of 20th-century cinema. Shot in black-and-white, the Battle of Algiers recreates the turbulent last years of French colonial rule in Algeria. Louise Hidalgo has been talking to former Algerian resistance leader, Saadi Yacef, who plays himself in the film and on whose memoirs the film is largely based. Picture: French paratroop commander Colonel Mathieu (played by actor Jean Martin) in a scene from the film, the Battle of Algiers, directed by Gillo Pontecorvo (Credit: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

20 Sep 20189min

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