ANKARA

Kosovo’s Ambassador to Ankara, Agon Vrenezi, participated in Anadolu's annual “Images of the Year” voting on Tuesday, which showcases images that marked 2025.

Sponsored by Lifebox, AJet, and ROKETSAN, the competition featured 112 photographs taken by Anadolu photojournalists in six categories reflecting key moments in Türkiye and around the world.

Commenting on the selections, the ambassador said the photos were highly meaningful and conveyed deep messages.

“I have been participating in this photo voting for two years. As always, the photographs are incredible,” he noted.

In the special category Gaza: Hunger, Vrenezi voted for Mahmoud Issa’s photo, titled Food Crisis Deepens in the Gaza Strip.

On his selection in this category, he said: “I chose a photo depicting the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, a situation everyone is aware of."

He further added that Kosovo has tried to alleviate the crisis to some extent by providing humanitarian aid with the Turkish Red Crescent, but conditions for civilians there remain extremely difficult.

A basketball fan, Vrenezi said he chose the sports photo because of the outstanding performance of national player Alperen Sengun.

For the Portrait special category, he chose Cem Ozdel’s “Rastgeldi.” In the News category, he selected Arif Hudaverdi Yaman’s Our Blue Homeland photograph.

In Sports, he picked Esra Bilgin’s “Alperen,” while for Nature and Environment, he voted for Berkan Cetin’s On the First Try.

For the Daily Life category, Vrenezi selected Hakan Akgun’s Sunset at the Golden Horn.

Selection

Anadolu has organized the “Images of the Year” contest since 2012.

This year’s competition features four main categories -- News, Nature and Environment, Sports, and Daily Life -- alongside two special categories, Gaza: Hunger and Portrait.

Last year, 1,543,367 people participated in the voting.

Voting is open worldwide with Turkish and English captions, and participants can vote for as many photos as they wish. The voting will continue on yilinkareleri.aa.com.tr until Sunday, Feb. 15.

*Writing by Fatma Zehra Solmaz in Istanbul