British journalist Jacky Sutton found dead at Turkish airport |20 October 2015

British journalist Jacky Sutton, 50, who worked for the United Nations and the British Broadcasting Corporation, has died at Istanbul’s Ataturk airport en route to Iraq.

The BBC reported that Sutton worked for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, a non-governmental organisation.

Tributes have been paid to Sutton who critics say has died in Turkey in suspicious circumstances.

Turkish newspaper Hürriyet said Sutton was en route to the Iraqi city of Irbil and was due to change flights in Turkey.

Sutton, who spoke five languages including basic Arabic, had been studying for a PhD at the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies at the Australian National University.

Her research was on international development support to female media professionals in Iraq and Afghanistan between 2003 and 2013 and she had been carrying out field work in Irbil, Iraq, since July.

In April this year, Sutton was in Seychelles where she chaired a two-day seminar on the importance of reporting judicial and police investigations in the media. The seminar, which was attended by local journalists from several media houses, was organised by the Seychelles Media Commission in conjunction with the United Nations Development Programme.