28 March 2017•Update: 28 March 2017
By Hatice Senses Kurukiz
ISTANBUL
Anadolu Agency Chairman and Director-General Senol Kazanci on Tuesday strongly rejected claims that the agency "will manipulate the results" of the upcoming April 16 referendum on constitutional change.
Kazanci said "certain circles" were conducting a smear campaign against the agency.
"As the referendum is getting closer, some say 'We should be careful about AA'. Any slightest change to the [referendum] results is out of the question," he stressed, adding official results would be shared directly with the agency's subscribers.
His remarks came at the "New Turkey and Media" talks organized by the Foundation in Istanbul.
The event brought together university students and chiefs of media outlets including the moderator, Serdar Karagoz, who is the editor-in-chief of Daily Sabah, a Turkey-based English-language newspaper. Chairman of Foundation Ismail Cenk Dilberoglu was also among the attendees.
Kazanci noted that the agency published stories in multiple languages including Turkish, English, Arabic, French, two Kurdish dialects, Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian, Russian, Albanian, Persian and Macedonian.
He also recalled how Anadolu Agency successfully announced the developments surrounding the July 15 coup attempt and said the agency was "the most significant news source" during last year's coup bid.
Meanwhile, Daily Sabah editor-in-chief slammed the recent decision of the European Parliament to ban the paper's distribution following a complaint by Dutch lawmaker Jeroen .
The block on the distribution of the newspaper, which had previously taken place every Tuesday, was confirmed to Daily Sabah by parliament’s media office last week.
Turkish ministers previously condemned the ban describing it as "one-sided", "unacceptable", and a "massacre of the freedom of the press".
Next month, Turkish voters will be asked to vote Yes or No to an 18-article constitutional reform bill. Anadolu Agency will publish the results in 11 languages.
