Indian envoy votes in Anadolu Agency photo contest

By Zehra Nur Duz

ANKARA (AA) - India’s ambassador to Turkey Sanjay Bhattacharyya voted in Anadolu Agency's Photos of the Year competition for this year, choosing his favorite entries in the news, life and sports categories.

Bhattacharyya selected Sergen Sezgin’s Respect to Martyrs photo in the news category.

The drone photo shows that a cortege carrying Turkish flag, march to the 57th Regiment Cemetery during an event "Mevlevi Regiment" held for Turkish martyrs at Gallipoli Peninsula in Canakkale, Turkey on April 22, 2019.

About 3,000 Mevlevis wearing traditional outfit attended the march.

In the life category, the ambassador voted for Dried vegetables: Housewives’ source of income, a photo taken by Anadolu Agency photojournalist Adsiz Gunebakan showing peppers prepared in summer season and are hung in arbors to get them dried in Turkey’s Gaziantep province on Aug. 20, 2019.

“The earliest connections between India and Turkey are what is known as the spice route,” the ambassador said.

He stressed that the Old Spice route starts from that Southern Anatolia, the land around Gaziantep, Sanliurfa, Aleppo, and go down to the Persian Gulf or the Red Sea and then sail across to India.

In the sports category, the ambassador picked Durmus Genc’s photo of rafters riding on inflatable boats at Dalaman Stream in Mugla, Turkey on July 31, 2019.

"This picture shows that man is always trying to compete with nature. Nature always has obstacles, but man always finds a way to take care of that and to continue," he said.¶

Dalaman Stream (Indos River), with its 229 kilometres long, attracts local and foreign tourists.

The ambassador praised Anadolu Agency’s Photos of the Year Competition, saying: “It's a brilliant idea.”

“I can see that the pictures that you have shortlisted talk about the different facets of Turkish culture, of Turkish interest,” Bhattacharyya said.

“And it also shows the great spirit of the Turkish people. They show how you can overcome any disabilities that you might have, and be a contributing member of society,” he added.

The first contest of the agency was held in 2012. This year, 50 images were selected from more than 750,000 photographs from different parts of the world, including Syria, Palestine, Russia, Germany and Spain.

The images were put to a vote in the news category which had 17 entries, life with 19 and sports had 14 entries with captions in Turkish and English languages.

Last year, 223,000 people took part in the voting.

This year's voting will continue through Dec. 31 at Anadolu Agency's website (aa.com.tr).