The first general assembly of the Alliance of Turkic News Agencies (ATNA) was held as Serdar Karagoz, where the President & CEO of Türkiye’s Anadolu, was elected its first president at the event.
The alliance, which was established during the “Turkic News Agencies Media Summit: Alliance in Media and Future Vision” program organized by Anadolu in Istanbul, held its first general assembly meeting.
In the opening speech, Karagoz stated that the Turkic states have established a new unity between the news agencies and noted that this is a historic day for the Turkic world.
He expressed his belief that the alliance will also be an opportunity to strengthen cooperation between the Turkic states.
At the meeting, the vote for the post of secretary-general was held at ATNA.
Elshan Shahbalayev, Global Communications and information Manager of Azerbaijan State News Agency (AZERTAC), was elected secretary general of the alliance.
After the unanimous decision, Serdar Karagoz was elected to become the first president of the alliance.
With the vote held on the proposal, Anadolu’s President & CEO was elected as the chairman of the alliance.
In his speech, Karagoz stated that he was happy to be elected as the first chairman of ATNA, noting that their goal is to make the alliance they have established strong and functional.
Such alliances are long-lasting if they are built on the right foundation, he said, adding: “The issue is not only to establish an alliance but to make it function.”
He further indicated: “This alliance needs to produce a benefit for everyone who is a member.”
“As Anadolu, we are committed to running the alliance most effectively,” he stressed, pointing out: “Our priority goals will be to establish a closer relationship between us and to establish structural ties. We must connect with each other through activities.”
Karagoz emphasized that he cares about the mutual sharing of experience.
“I care about the fight against disinformation content sharing,” he underlined, praising: “As Anadolu, we are one of the largest content-producing news agencies in the world.”
“More than 4,000 contents are produced daily at Anadolu,” he mentioned. “From Latin America to Far Asia, from North America to Australia, from Africa to Europe, Anadolu Ajansi reporters, photojournalists, and editors produce an average of 4,000 pieces of content per day.”
He noted that Anadolu “will be looking for how to cooperate” on the ways to “make our content better quality and share it” with the alliance.
“As Anadolu, we will always support you,” he emphasized. “Anadolu will always be by your side, both in terms of training, experience sharing and content sharing.”
He further expressed: “I hope that ATNA will be the most influential news agency alliance among the associations of world news agencies.”
Devotion of energy
Reminding that Anadolu is also a member of the European Alliance of News Agencies (EANA), Organization of Asia Pacific News Agencies (OANA) and the Association of Balkan News Agencies Southeast Europe (ABNA-se), Karagoz said that they will devote their energies to ATNA at most.
Later in the meeting, suggestions and evaluations were made regarding the activities to be carried out by the alliance.
Meanwhile, Karagoz, who took the floor, stressed that the newly established alliance “should not remain inactive.”
Noting that the alliance can give awards to the best news among themselves in certain categories, Karagoz said that the award ceremony should bring voice and heads of state may also be invited.
He stated that they should build an institution with a corporate structure, and for this purpose, a beautiful logo should be designed and a website containing the content of the work should be made.
Karagoz mentioned that the mutual educational proposals of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are also very valuable, saying that the award ceremony can be held as a side activity of the meeting of the heads of the Organization of Turkic States.
After the General Assembly Meeting, a cooperation agreement was signed first between Anadolu and AZERTAC, then between Anadolu and Kyrgyz National News Agency (Kabar).
At the end of the meeting, Serdar Karagoz presented gifts to AZERTAC Chairperson Aliyev, Kabar General Manager Mederbek Shermetaliev, Qazcontent Chairperson Bekzat Zhussupov and UzA General Manager Abdisait Kuchimov.
Source : aa