"Turkey, Syria engage in bird diplomacy
By MICHAEL CASEY (AP) – 11 hours ago
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The latest beneficiary of improved relations between Turkey and Syria is the rare northern bald ibis.
In recent years, conservationists have watched in dismay as the numbers of the critically endangered northern bald ibis in a Syrian colony dwindled to just four birds. Extinction seemed almost guaranteed until late June, when neighboring Turkey agreed to donate two juvenile and four adult birds to Syria. The complicated and much-delayed transfer — unthinkable only a few years back — was finalized when Syria's first lady Asma Assad contacted the Turkish prime minister's wife, Emine Erdogan."
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