Anadolu Agency, TIKA start defense journalism training

By Mehmet Tosun

ANKARA (AA) - An online defense journalism training organized by Anadolu Agency and the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) for Azerbaijani correspondents kicked off on Monday.

Training on Defense Journalism and Reporting in Crisis Zones started via videoconference with attendance of 48 Azerbaijani journalists.

Delivering an opening speech for the program, Anadolu Agency's Deputy Director General and Editor-in-Chief Metin Mutanoglu started his remarks by congratulating Azerbaijan over a fresh military success in Nagorno-Karabakh, also known as Upper Karabakh.

Mutanoglu said the liberation of Shusha -- which had been under Armenian occupation for over 28 years -- is a sign that Azerbaijan will free its other lands under occupation.

He said that the Turkish nation and all governments until today have always supported Baku in its rightful cause.

Noting that some initiatives and the Minsk group just stall the Azerbaijani nation instead of providing a solution to the conflict, Mutanoglu said: “What we have seen here is that if you come out strong on the ground and join hands, there will be no difficulty that you cannot overcome."

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group – co-chaired by France, Russia and the US – was formed in 1992 to find a peaceful solution to the conflict, but to no avail. A cease-fire, however, was agreed to in 1994.

Mutanoglu wished no more casualties and withdrawal of the Armenian army from the region.

He stressed that Anadolu Agency started to go global with war journalism training and added that News Academy is working to train many journalists both in Ankara and outside the capital in cooperation with TIKA.

He also said that journalists in Azerbaijan need war zone reporting during this period and underlined the agency’s expertise in this field.

- ‘Anadolu Agency very experienced in war reporting’

Mutanoglu said the agency is following developments in Syria with an experienced team and recalled that some agency reporters lost their lives in the region.

Stressing the agency’s vast experience in war reporting, he said they give importance to sharing this experience.

He also said the most important point in covering the situation in Azerbaijan’s Upper Karabakh is the survival of the reporters, and added that the agency previously provided serious training in this regard in cooperation with the Police Academy and the Turkish Armed Forces in Ankara.

This knowledge and experience will make a serious contribution to Azerbaijani journalists and will illuminate the work in crisis regions, Mutanoglu said, adding: “It is a very sacred duty to convey the facts to people, but no news is more valuable than your life.”

“If human rights violations or war crimes are committed there, it is our duty to show them, but while doing these, we have to protect our own lives first,” he said.

Mutanoglu said the agency has always been with Azerbaijan and they work together with the Azerbaijani news agency AZERTAC.

He added that Anadolu Agency also works on the ground to cover the liberation of Azerbaijani lands and said it is “happiness” to report liberation news.

“Hopefully, in our next meeting, we will see the days when the entire territory of Karabakh will have been liberated and Azerbaijani people have their own lands.”