ANKARA
Full of national conscience and a patriotic spirit, Anadolu Agency is determined to maintain its efforts to provide accurate, reliable, speedy, and effective news on its 100th anniversary, according to Senol Kazanci, the agency’s director general.
In a message marking the agency’s centennial, Kazanci said Anadolu Agency – founded at the direction of the nation’s founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk on April 6, 1920 – is celebrating the event with joy and justified pride.
Stating that the agency was founded 17 days before the establishment of the parliament to publicize the national struggle to the national and international public, he said ever since its foundation, Anadolu Agency has been Turkey's largest and most influential news organization.
"Over the last century, Anadolu Agency has risen to become one of the world's most influential news agencies and became an international brand of Turkey," he said.
He noted that the agency operates in 13 languages – including English, Arabic, French, Spanish, Persian, Russian, Bosnian, Indonesian, Sorani, Albanian, Macedonian, and Kurmanji – and provides news to nearly 6,000 subscribers from 100 countries. Every day it produces an average of 2,000 news reports, he added, along with 2,350 photos and 435 videos, and addresses the world through 18 live broadcasts with the help of more than 3,000 employees of 124 different nationalities.
According to Kazanci, countries' ability to produce information and spread it quickly and accurately on the international stage is as important as being a political, economic, and military power.
Along these lines, he explained: "While Turkey took firm steps in its path to becoming a strong global actor politically, economically, and militarily, Anadolu Agency also took part in this sacred march and managed to become the strongest and most effective communication tool communicating Turkey’s messages and viewpoints to the world."
"In particular,” he added, “I would like to stress that Anadolu Agency is the voice of the oppressed and victims around the world. Anadolu Agency became the voice of the silent masses and conveys the truth regardless of language, religion, race, or geography and promotes the global goals of peace, friendship, and solidarity."
Kazanci went on to say that the agency continues to provides coverage of the "rightful resistance of Palestine, survival struggle of Bosnia, pain of the Rohingya, cries of oppressed Syrians, and untold stories of Africans."
"As we proudly celebrate our 100th anniversary, I would like to express my gratitude to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for his tremendous support to Anadolu Agency," Kazanci said.
He said the agency is excited to spread the word of developments from growing Turkey to the world as the country witnesses "historical breakthroughs under the president’s leadership."
Stressing that the agency will never forget those who played a role in its foundation and lost their lives while doing their jobs, he continued: "We have endless respect and loyalty to Anadolu Agency employees martyred in the line of duty."
He paid tribute to Serif Arzik, the agency’s director general who lost his life in a 1959 plane crash following Prime Minister Adnan Menderes on a trip to the U.K., Abdulkadir Nisanci, who died when he fell off a cliff while covering road construction work, and Salih Mahmut Leyla, a Syria correspondent killed in a car bombing.
He thanked all Anadolu Agency employees operating within Turkey or foreign representative offices for their sacrifices and courage, and those former employees who put forth efforts for the agency.
According to Kazanci, Anadolu Agency is excited to be the voice and image of "growing Turkey," witnessing and reporting history in the runup to 2023, the 100th anniversary of the Turkish Republic.
"We are determined to maintain our efforts to spread accurate, reliable, speedy and effective news with our colleagues while at the same time preserving the honor of the journalism profession and paying our due to impartiality, the national conscience, and patriotism, just as we have for the past 100 years," he said.
Stressing that Anadolu Agency is the work of the Turkish nation, Kazanci concluded that the agency will never forsake the purposeful path laid out by the nation but will operate as the pride of the nation for many centuries to come.
