‘Istanbul Photo Awards’ exhibit opens in Ankara

By Yasemin Kalyoncuoglu

ANKARA (AA) – Anadolu Agency opened on Tuesday an exhibition in the central train station in capital Ankara where award-winning news photographs of the international Istanbul Photo Awards 2019 are exhibited.

The exhibition provides by-passers with an opportunity to take a glance at the most successful images of the international photography contest, which has been held annually since 2015 with the participation of a total of some 100,000 entries.

"As the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, we welcome such efforts and works and see [exhibitions] as a significant part of our cultural life," said Deputy Culture and Tourism Minister Serdar Cam.

The photographs -- which depict various events and incidents such as migration, natural disasters, people's struggles across the world -- were meaningful and the exhibition selection was a total success, he added.

Editor-in-Chief Metin Mutanoglu said the photo contest encouraged photographers across the world top art in it, adding Anadolu Agency’s Istanbul Photo Awards proved it was a prestigious contest worldwide.

Mutanoglu thanked Turkish Airlines and Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) for their contribution to the international photo contest.

The winner of this year's the Photo of the Year award was a photograph taken by AFP's Ahmad Gharabli, where he depicted a Palestinian woman retaliating an Israeli soldier's act to take her photo during protests against the U.S. decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem.

*Writing by Ali Murat Alhas