British passenger commits suicide after missing her flight at Istanbul's Atatürk Airport

Jacqueline Anne Sutton, a 50-year old British passenger and a reporter, committed suicide in Istanbul's Atatürk Airport after missing her flight.

Sutton arrived in Atatürk Airport from London with Turkish Airlines flight TK-1986 at 10:00 p.m. Saturday night and supposed to fly to northern Iraqi city of Irbil at 00.15 on early Sunday. However, Sutton missed her flight and applied to transit passenger desk to find out what to do.

Upon receiving the answer that she needs to buy a new ticket as she missed flight, she replied booking staff that she does not have any money, and after crying for a while, she went to one of the toilets in the airport.

Sutton's body was later found by three Russian passengers hung to the toilet door by shoelaces, and transferred to the forensic medicine institution morgue after investigation by police units.

Sutton was a former BBC employee and she was currently working as the Iraq director for London based Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR).

British Foreign and Commonwealth Office stated that Sutton family is being provided which psychological support.

Upon Sutton's death, IWPR released a condolatory message and stated that she was appointed after former director Ammar Al Shahbander was killed in a car bomb attack on May 2. The message stated that Sutton was in London to attend a memorial service held for Shahbander.

The message also included IWPR director Anthony Borden's comments on Sutton. "Jacky was one of the top development professionals working on Iraq, and she devoted nearly ten years of her life to helping the country," said Borden, adding that her death is a total shock due to her character.

IWPR message also gave a brief description of Sutton's career. "Jacky Sutton was a veteran journalist and media development expert, and worked closely with IWPR long before joining us. She spent two years at the BBC World Service in 1998-2000, reporting from Africa and the Middle East as well as in London. She went on to serve with the United Nations in numerous senior roles that took her from Afghanistan and Iran to West Africa and Gaza, and in 2008, Iraq. After running a media and elections project for UNDP in Baghdad, she became country director for IREX and then a consultant for the International Foundation for Electoral Systems in Baghdad.

Jacky earned multiple advanced academic qualifications including in constitutional law and international development, all of which brought intellectual rigour and a broad vision to her professional roles. Her LLM, for example, focused on Iraq's regulatory framework for media and telecoms and its impact on freedom of expression. Most recently, she was working on a PhD on the position of female journalists in Iraq and Afghanistan, studying at the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies at the Australian National University in Canberra.

Jacky was returning to Iraq full of plans for innovative new work, including projects to counter violent extremism that threatens a country to which she was so committed. Our condolences go out to her family and all those who knew her" the message said.

Amin Saikal, Director of Arab and Islamic Studies at the Australian National University in Canberra, stated that Sutton was a very good friend and a colleague in addition to being a brilliant researcher, and they are in deep sorrow and shock due to her death.