09/28/06

Christopher Torchia appointed Associated Press bureau chief in Turkey

NEW YORK -- Christopher Torchia, bureau chief in Singapore for The Associated Press since 2004, has been appointed chief of bureau in Istanbul, Turkey.

The appointment was announced Thursday by International Editor John Daniszewski.

Torchia joined the AP at the end of 1989 and has served as bureau chief for the news organization in Seoul, South Korea, and Jakarta, Indonesia, as well as correspondent in Bogota, Colombia.

He has covered the nuclear standoff with North Korea, the end of Indonesian President Suharto's authoritarian regime and drug trafficking in Colombia. Torchia is the co-author of "How Koreans Talk: A Collection of Expressions," a compilation of comments on the origins of Korean idioms.

In 1989, he graduated from Yale University with a bachelor's degree in history.

Contact: Jack Stokes, AP Corporate Communications, 212.621.1720