ANKARA
In an article titled "In the footsteps of the Ottomans" Swiss daily newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung wrote that Turkey's Anadolu Agency had launched an "ambitious" project to become one of the top five news agencies in the world.
"Turkey seeks greater influnce and therefore it reinforces their international media presence. With its Anadolu Agency Turkey wants to be one the five top news broadcaster," Joseph Croitoru of the Swiss daily said.
Croitoru said Anadolu Agency Director General Kemal Ozturk had set "a very ambitious goal" last August when he took over the helm of the agency.
"With a self-image as a rising regional power Turkey saw an intensive development of its international media coverage, and the establishment of a separate Arabic language television station last year seems only part of a much broader plan," Croitoru said.
Croitoru said a significant expansion of the Anadolu Agency is also key part of Turkey's plan to make one the agency of the top five news agencies in the world by the 100th anniversary of the its foundation in 2020 with wire services in as many as eleven languages and an increased number of subscribers from 1,121 to 7,000.
Croitoru wrote that as a first step in that direction AA launched in March broadcast in Bosnian, Serbian and Croatian.
"And it is hardly a coincidence that a Muslim dominated part of the Balkans where the Ottoman Turks once ruled is one of the first expansion goals. This is related, among other things, to the Neo-Ottomanism which the Turkey's ruling AK Party under Premier Erdogan, and particulary Erdogan himself, touted as the Balkans again becoming a noticeably Turkish sphere of influence. Also, Ankara saw itself forced to respond to the surprising developments in the media sector in the Balkans: The Qatari television network Al-Jazeera operates since November last year a station that broadcasts in Slavic language," the Croitoru said.
Croitoru said the importance Turkish government attached to broadcast in Bosnian, Serbian and Croatian was evident from the selection of representatives the Turkish state at the opening of the AA headquarters in Sarajevo with Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag alongside AA chief Ozturk.
Cooperation with the Muslim world
Croitoru also said AA chief Ozturk visited Doha in April and met with executives from Qatari National News Agency and Al-Jazeera on future cooperation with the Arab region, adding that another aspect of Ozturk's visit was the prospective opening of AA headquarters in Cairo which would operate broadcast in Arabic.
