ANKARA
The Executive Board Chairman and Director General of Anadolu Agency (AA) Kemal Ozturk received the head of Union of Journalists in South Iraqi Region, Raed Abdul Zeez Aldaghir and an accompanying delegation at the AA headquarters in Ankara.
Speaking while receiving the Iraqi delegation, Kemal Ozturk said that certain (Arabic) countries receive the translation of a speech of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan from an agency of a different country.
"Just imagine two brothers. A child of another country comes and tries to translate the conversation between the two brothers in a different language. This is not logical. We will end such scenarios. We will speak in the language of our brethren," Ozturk stressed.
"Iraq has a special place in Turkey. Iraq is one of the countries that the AA attaches high importance to. Iraq is going through a tough period. Turkey always wishes to be on the side of Iraq. Relations between Turkey and Iraq continue. I believe that certain problems are temporary. As the AA, we have a correspondent in Baghdad. Furthermore, we do have correspondents in north of Iraq. After beginning Arabic edition services, our interest in the region has risen," Ozturk noted.
"AA teams work in a wide geography from Morocco to Beirut and from Lebanon to Egypt. Our aim is to be able to communicate with the regional people in their own language. We are pleased to speak with our brethren in our very old language. I think that our Arabic news would strengthen our relations. AA provides news to you not only from Turkey but the whole world. As of January 1, our own software in Arabic would be completed. On January 1, we will begin providing news, photographs, visual materials and graphics with our own Arabic software," Ozturk underlined.
AA's Deputy Director General Ahmet Tek and Editor of Foreign News Desk Omer Faruk Caliskan provided information to the Iraqi journalists on AA's structure and projects on Wednesday.
