ANKARA
Anadolu Agency’s Director General and Board Chairman Kemal Ozturk on Sunday urged for more respect to AA, calling the agency "Turkey's flag-bearer abroad".
Ozturk dismissed allegations that the agency's coverage of March 30 local elections was biased.
"As Anadolu Agency, we are equidistant to each political party and political entity, and we report equally. We are the news agency of Turkey. We are not engaged to any person, institution or political party," said Ozturk at a picnic event on AA’s 94th anniversary.
Ozturk said AA made history when it for the first time published the election results directly from poll stations.
"On the election night, 85 percent of the Turkish media, both dailies and television networks, received the results from AA,” he said.
Ozturk added that the election data were translated into seven languages, including AA's new publishing language, French, which was launched on Sunday.
In his speech, AA’s CEO referred to a telegram sent by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Turkish Republic, that announced the agency's founding in 1920. It said: "Anadolu Agency has been founded in order to make the voice of Anatolia heard all over the world."
"As the followers, defenders of this legacy and mission, we can say that the mission Ataturk laid down in that telegram has been accomplished 94 years later," Ozturk said.
"Anadolu Agency now ranks ninth among the top news agencies in the world,” he said, in terms of the number of news stories and photo and video content. "Hopefully, we will rank among the top five by 2020."
With an international network spanning sixty-five countries, Anadolu Agency provides its subscribers with 1,850 news stories, 1,500 photos and 300 videos every day.
It offers wire services in Turkish, English, Arabic, Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian, Russian, Kurdish, and soon in French.
englishnews@aa.com.tr
