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ISTANBUL, November 18 (FENA) - Turkish Anadolu Agency has assumed the presidency of the Association of Balkan News Agencies - Southeast Europe (ABNA-SE).
The annual and 27th ABNA-SE General Assembly was held in Istanbul and was attended by Deputy Director General and Editor-in-Chief of AA Metin Mutanoglu, AA Deputy Director General Mustafa Ozkaya, Deputy Director of BTA Borislav Chalakov, CNA Head Georgios Penintaex, HINA Deputy Director Branka Gabriela Vojvodić, Director General of ANA-MPA Michalis Psilos, Managing Director of FENA Elmir Huremović, ATA Managing Director Armela Krasniqi, Head of KOSOVAPRES Skender Krasniqi, STA Managing Director Bojan Veselinovič, Dubravka Blagojevic from SRNA, Deputy Director of MIA Halit Ajdini and Alexandra Stefan from AGERPRES.
At the assembly, the representatives of the Association's member agencies presented the information about the latest activities and their work in general.
Deputy Director General of AA Mustafa Ozkaya stated that yesterday's conference went on very good.
“I would like to express my profound thanks to outgoing ABNA-SE President Michalis Psilos for the successful tenure of his presidency,” said Mustafa Ozkaya, Anadolu Agency's Deputy Director-General.
Ozkaya said that ABNA-SE in 1995 was not established only to improve cooperation between news agencies in the region, but also to establish a peaceful, friendly and secure atmosphere, Anadolu Agency reports.
“Anadolu Agency will conduct the ABNA-SE presidency in line with ABNA-SE goals and will work to enhance dialogue, cooperation, friendly and professional relations among ABNA-SE members,” added Ozkaya.
Michalis Psilos, Head of Greece’s Athens-Macedonia News Agency (ANA-MPA), said that cooperation between agencies should be the primary task.
He underlined that he wants to find out about the events in Turkey from Anadolu Agency, and not from Reuters and AP. He stressed the need to take concrete steps to improve cooperation between reporters.
Psilos was also elected Secretary General of ABNA-SE.
He also pointed to the role of ABNA-SE and its contribution to peace, cooperation, and friendship among its members.
"ABNA-SE, with the participation of AA, ANA-MPA, and other agencies, will support the idea of cooperation and coexistence in the Balkans and be a leader in joint initiatives," Psilos said.
He said that we are living in an age of fake news.
"People now find it difficult to know what is true, what is a rumor, and what is false information. Therefore, news agencies need to publish accurate, truthful news, quickly and reliably. The accuracy of the news is something very important for the Balkans," said Psilos.
Psilos said he favored cooperation so foreign news desk staff have the chance “to go directly to Balkan news agencies to learn about the activities, not only of the news agency but also activities of the country.”
He added that Balkan news agencies should “do some specific, concrete things to promote cooperation between our journalists.”
(FENA) S. R.
