KAZAN, Tatarstan 

Regional media organizations should increase cooperation to prevent the region from being associated with “wars, refugee issues, blood and tears” and to promote “success stories of our people,” said Erman Yuksel, World Languages Editor-in-Chief of Türkiye’s state news agency Anadolu.

His remarks came at an extended media session organized on the sidelines of the 14th International Economic Summit: Russia-Islamic World: Kazan Forum 2023 held in Tatarstan’s capital city of Kazan. Anadolu Agency is the global communication partner of the event.

The session “Russia-Islamic World: Media Cooperation for Sustainable Development and Economic Prosperity” brought together several media representatives, including Russian national news agency Russia Today. 

Anadolu Agency’s World Languages Editor-in-Chief Erman Yuksel 

Hailing Anadolu’s 103 years of experience with news published in 13 languages, including Russian, Arabic and English, Yuksel expressed the agency’s willingness to contribute to what he described as much-needed cooperation between regional media organizations.

“As all the speakers have consistently highlighted the importance of cooperation, we would like to share our experience to contribute to this cooperation,” he said.

“However, I would like to highlight another aspect of the cooperation.”

Pointing to some steps that needed to be taken to better coordinate the cooperation, Yuksel said they should include some mechanisms to turn the cooperation into concrete projects.

Launching some editorial boards and commissions and holding weekly or monthly meetings where dedicated journalists discuss their opinions would help foster a more concrete cooperation, he said.

Yuksel said the sessions may also include certain thematic discussions on particular topics like Islamophobia and xenophobia.

The cooperation of the media organizations may also help overcome the prejudices against the regional countries, including Russia, he said.

“Unfortunately, the majority of the countries in the world have been providing the news from certain sources,” he said, underlining the significance of mirroring the realities in a proper way.

“One part of the world has always been associated with wars, refugee issues, blood and tears. We should tell the success stories of our people and our countries more powerfully,” he added.