Istanbul, Turkey, the inauguration of the “International Media Association”

On Sunday evening, the Turkish city of Istanbul witnessed the inauguration of the “International Media Association” through an event that honored a number of journalists.

The International Media Association defines itself as an organization for journalists in Turkey to unify their media efforts, and sees the need to activate the role of media professionals to pose and solve problems, train and refine talents, and push for media development.

A number of journalists working in Turkey of different nationalities also participated in the inauguration event, and a number of them were honored who contributed to serving the Arab communities in the country and bringing communities together.

During the event, the President of the Turkish Journalist Association Metin Turan said, “This association is to celebrate the journalists who support the displaced and migrants in their work and have a humanitarian character.”

He added, “The association was established 7 months ago, and its launch was delayed due to the Corona pandemic, and World Press Day will be tomorrow (January 10), and we decided to conduct this event.”

He continued, “I know the concerns of journalists in Turkey, so I worked to solve them with the solution of the problem of the communities, and we decided to establish the association and organize the event,” adding, “This association deals with official institutions and coordinates coverage operations with journalists.”

Turan added: “We have cooperation with Turkish institutions and we have the Federation of Communities, and they need to write the news correctly, and we want every year to organize events for journalists,” noting that “the journalistic work is intense and needs focus, which is a great responsibility.”

He concluded by saying, “We want the members of this association to work and cooperate with each other, and with the Union of Arab Communities, and it is possible to conduct recreational activities and trips, and there are goals to have professional headquarters for the work of journalists.”

For his part, the head of the Federation of Arab Communities in Turkey, Muhammad Al-Hams, said: “The most important thing we are working on is unifying the efforts of the Arab communities in Turkey, as there are 5 million Arabs here, and they have many specialties.”

And he added, “The media’s role is important and there is a need to raise awareness in order to integrate with the Turkish people, because they are the incubator, and everyone, especially the media, has the greatest role in educating the Arab community on how to deal with the Turkish street.”

Following the speeches, a process of honoring a number of Arab and Turkish journalists took place, as they were honored on the eve of World Press Day, which falls on January 10 of each year, including journalists from Anadolu Agency.