The second meeting of the board of directors of the Association of Turkish News Agencies (ATNA) was held in Azerbaijan.
The meeting held within the scope of the 4th Global Media Forum in Shusha was attended by Azerbaijan State News Agency (AZERTAC) Chairman Vugar Aliyev, Kazakhstan Qazcontent Media Company Chairman Adil Seyfullin, Kyrgyzstan National News Agency (Kabar) Editor-in-Chief Nazgül Nurmanbetova and Uzbekistan News Agency (UzA) Deputy Editor-in-Chief Gayrat Honnazarov.
Anadolu Agency (AA) Deputy General Manager and Editor-in-Chief Yusuf Özhan also took part in the meeting.
AZERTAC Chairman of the Board of Directors Aliyev stated that the cooperation between the news agencies of the Turkish world is gaining increasing importance and said that the common information field should be strengthened in parallel with the state of political, economic, cultural and humanitarian relations between the countries.
Drawing attention to the importance of sharing the situations happening in member countries directly through national news agencies instead of third-party sources, Aliyev said, "We should get information about the events happening in each other's countries directly, quickly and from reliable sources, not from third sources." he said.
Emphasizing that ATNA is an important platform towards this goal, Aliyev stated that expanding the sharing of news, photographs and video materials, preparing joint media projects, organizing training and experience sharing programs for journalists and sharing technological innovations will make cooperation more efficient.
Aliyev stated that AA, which was the first term president of ATNA, created a strong institutional basis for the union and thanked AA and its management.
AA Deputy General Manager and Editor-in-Chief Özhan said that they were proud to be a part of ATNA.
Özhan explained that AA today carries out news operations around the world and has experience, knowledge, capability and corporate memory.
Emphasizing that, as AA, they attach great importance to the activities within the scope of ATNA, Özhan said, "We are ready to fulfill all our responsibilities and to operate together with all other news agencies so that ATNA gains a stronger, stronger and more forward-looking framework." he said.
Qazcontent Chairman Seyfullin also stated that they support the strengthening of cooperation between Turkish states and pointed out the importance of receiving information about member countries directly from national news agencies instead of foreign sources.
Kabar Editor-in-Chief Nurmanbetova stated that joint media activities will strengthen the information field of the Turkish world, and that joint training programs for journalists, correspondent exchange and experience sharing in the field of digital media will make a significant contribution to increasing institutional capacity.
UzA Deputy Editor-in-Chief Gayrat Honnazarov also pointed out that cooperation between media organizations in the Turkish world should not be limited to just sharing news, and said that joint projects, training activities and sharing experience in the field of digital transformation will further strengthen corporate ties.
Honnazarov emphasized that UzA will continue to support activities aimed at joint news production, mutual sharing of photo and video contents and joint action on international platforms.
At the meeting, where ATNA Secretary General Elşen Şahbalayev gave information about the activities of the institution, issues such as the changes to be made in the statute, the application of the Turkish Agency Cyprus (TAK) to join ATNA as an observer member, and the photo contest plan on tourism and culture of Turkish countries were discussed.