By Mehmet Kemal Firik
LEFKOSA, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (AA) - The Turkish Cypriot president participated in Anadolu Agency's "Photo of the Year" voting on Saturday.
Ersin Tatar, president of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), voted in the News, Sports, Environment and Life categories.
In the Sports category, Tatar voted for "Champions," a photo by Elif Ozturk Ozgoncu of the Turkish National Amputee Football Team becoming world champions by beating Angola in this year's final.
In the "News" category, Tatar chose "Holding on to life" by Valeria Ferraro, depicting migrants' struggle for survival in the Mediterranean Sea.
In the Environment-Life category, Tatar voted for "Refugee person" by Muhammed Said.
Tatar said he chose those two photos in the News and Environment-Life categories because they describe the drama of people who had to leave their homeland.
He said the two photos reminded him of Cyprus in the 1960s-70s, during which Turkish Cypriots were saved from being migrants and the danger of being homeless with the Peace Operation carried out by Türkiye in 1974 in the island.
"For years, Anadolu Agency has undertaken a great task in making the voices of Turkish people heard both at home and abroad. Anadolu Agency has also made great contributions to making the voice of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus heard. For this, I am always grateful to Anadolu Agency," Tatar added.
Photos of the year will be chosen among the 85 most impressive taken by Anadolu Agency photojournalists and reporters on a variety of subjects.
Images that defined 2022 include war, politics, sports, and current events that have had a significant effect on Türkiye and the world and are frequently used in significant international media outlets.
This year, Environment and Life was added as a third category to the annual voting as a new initiative by Anadolu Agency in recent years to increase environmental awareness.
Annual voting for Photo of the Year competition, which Anadolu Agency hosted for the first time in 2012, is attended by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as well as ministers, lawmakers, bureaucrats, athletes, and artists. A total of 312,136 people cast votes in 2021.
Voting will continue on photosoftheyear.aa.com.tr until 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) Jan. 16.
*Writing by Zehra Nur Duz.