Police and military personnel from Türkiye who are experts in their fields are training participants in the program, designed to prepare reporters to cover conflicts, disasters, and states of emergency.

The program includes 22 participants, including nine from AA, as well as participants from Serbia, Romania, Ukraine, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Greece, and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

On the fourth day of the training, journalist Özden Erkuş led a session on “war journalism experience sharing,” while the Police Academy provided instruction on “protection against FPV drones” and “close-quarters defense” techniques.

On the fifth day, participants received training on “war photojournalism” from photojournalist Erhan Sevenler, and on “war psychology,” “nutrition and hygiene in emergency situations,” and “persuasion strategies and negotiation” from the Police Academy.

Today, the trainees received “survival in water” training from teams under the Directorate of Protection of the General Directorate of Security, learning how to combat hypothermia and reach the shore as a group without panicking, while on a zodiac boat at the Kesikköprü Dam.

Speaking to an AA reporter after the training on the lake, Hüseyin Turan, a journalist stationed in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), thanked the police teams for the training he received.

Turan said, "They provided hands-on training before putting us on the boat. Then, they took us to a depth of about 28 meters at the Kesikköprü Dam, where we jumped into the water in a controlled manner as a group while wearing our regular clothes. We then successfully swam to shore together as a team. It turns out there were some misconceptions we had, and they showed us the correct methods here. They taught us the key tips for surviving in the water."

Alexandra Ioana Dınu, a trainee working as a reporter in Romania, said that the training she has received so far has been very intense and that it will become even more challenging in the coming days.

Dınu said, “We went into the water here today; it was the first time I’d ever done this in my entire life, and jumping into the water felt a bit strange to me. I was able to do it because a Turkish police officer here told me I could do it, so I jumped in. I think we were back on shore within 30 minutes.”

Expressing that she really appreciated the training, Dınu explained, “Today was the day I was most afraid of during the training because I’m afraid of water, but after the trainees here told me I could do it, I really enjoyed it and did it. I jumped into the water and swam to shore.”

Trainees returning from training stopped to help at the scene of an accident

While the participants were returning from training, a car lost control on the Bala Road heading toward Konya and veered off the road into a ditch.

Noticing the situation, the trainees pulled their vehicles to the side of the road and called 112. The injured driver and his cat were then safely removed from the vehicle by the trainees, who had also received first aid training, and transported to a safe area.

The injured person was handed over to the medical teams that arrived at the scene and taken to the hospital.