By Anadolu Staff
ASTANA, Kazakhstan (AA) - The 2nd General Assembly of the Alliance of Turkic News Agencies (ATNA), consisting of the official news agencies of Türkiye, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, was held Thursday in the Kazakh capital Astana.
Hosted by Aina Zadabek, Chairperson of the Board of Qazcontent, Kazakhstan’s state media company, the meeting was attended by Anadolu's Deputy Director General and Editor-in-Chief Yusuf Ozhan, Member of the Board of the Azerbaijan State News Agency (AZERTAC) Fuad Gadilli, Department Director of the Kyrgyz National News Agency (Kabar) Nurcan Kamaliyeva, Editor-in-Chief of the Uzbekistan State News Agency (UzA) Javlonbek Azizov, Content Director of Hungary’s MTI News Agency Istvan Zoltan Toth, and ATNA Secretary General Elshen Shahbalayev.
Anadolu Publications and Productions Coordinator Oguz Karakas and Anadolu Strategic Communication and Foreign Relations Manager Bilgehan Ozturk also attended the meeting, where discussions focused on ATNA’s institutional development, sharing of experience and content among member agencies, and increasing its international recognition.
During the session, Anadolu handed over the ATNA presidency to Kazakhstan’s Qazcontent media company.
In her remarks, Qazcontent Chairperson Zadabek said the new role carried great responsibility.
Highlighting Kazakhstan’s key role in creating a common news network for the Turkic world, she said that ATNA had so far focused on institutionalization and would now move toward implementing concrete projects.
Anadolu's Deputy Director General and Editor-in-Chief Ozhan conveyed the greetings of Anadolu's CEO Serdar Karagoz to the assembly.
Ozhan said Karagoz believed ATNA, founded in 2023, would become an active and productive platform and expressed pride that Anadolu had served as ATNA’s first president, uniting the news agencies of the Turkic world.
Ozhan noted that during Anadolu's term presidency, ATNA’s institutional structure had been strengthened and cooperation among member agencies had reached a new level.
After his speech, he presented Zadabek, the new ATNA president, with a book featuring award-winning photos from Anadolu's international photojournalism competition “Istanbul Photo Awards” over the past decade.
AZERTAC Board Member Gadilli underlined that significant progress had been achieved over the past two years, particularly in making cooperation among news agencies more systematic.
He stressed that future efforts within ATNA should focus on building a unified news network for the Turkic world.
UzA Chief Editor Azizov noted that ATNA had made remarkable progress in a short time and that the member agencies had great potential.
He said UzA journalists had participated in Anadolu's War Journalism Training Program under the ATNA framework and that with mutual support and contribution, ATNA could become a stronger and more recognized institution internationally.
ATNA Secretary General Shahbalayev thanked Anadolu for its successful presidency during the institutionalization phase, noting that ATNA had been steadily progressing toward the goal of creating a common news space for the Turkic states and that the current meeting marked an important milestone in this process.
During the meeting, Anadolu's Strategic Communication and Foreign Relations Manager Ozturk introduced ATNA’s official website.
It was also decided that Hungary’s MTI news agency would join ATNA as an observer member.
In addition, the term of the ATNA secretary general was extended for another year, and the next ATNA General Assembly will be held in Azerbaijan.