In his speech at Anadolu Agency's Strategy and Vision Camp, 'AA Autumn Camp 23,' in Antalya, Presidency's Director of Communications Fahrettin Altun said, "Anadolu Agency has conveyed a solid, assertive experience and representation of Turkishness instead of an unfounded cosmopolitanism."
In his speech at the camp, Director of Communications Altun stated that AA is a well-established agency and a part of Türkiye's history.
Noting that AA was founded during the period when Türkiye was struggling for independence, and it penned this struggle, Director of Communications Altun said:
"The history of Anadolu Agency is part of the history of Türkiye and Turkish modernization; it is both its author and creator. When you evaluate it from this perspective, it can be said that it is an institution that embodies all the features and dilemmas of Turkish modernisation history. In the first century of the Republic of Türkiye, Anadolu Agency played a very central role, and hopefully, in the second century of our Republic and the Century of Türkiye, Anadolu Agency will again play a historic role and will continue to be structured in accordance with the needs and characteristics of the new era."
Altun emphasised that Türkiye has become an important actor in the world, especially after the pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine War.
Explaining that the developments in Türkiye in the last 20 years under the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Türkiye's stance on global affairs have been closely followed by the whole world, Director of Communications Altun noted that they were able to see this more clearly at the UN meetings last week and the G20 meetings the week before.
Stating that President Erdoğan has been a global player in the meetings and dialogues with his interlocutors for 2 weeks, Director of Communications Altun said: "Climate crisis, Russia-Ukraine War, Black Sea and Mediterranean geopolitics, developments in the Caucasus and Middle East, power struggles in Africa... All of these were the primary agenda items of our President, none of which was an alternative to the other. All his interlocutors took a stance that scrutinised the position of Türkiye and our President on this issue."
Director of Communications Altun stated that AA has undertaken a significant mission in the development of Türkiye and has made significant strides in the field of globalisation.
Noting that AA has offices and representative offices in many countries, Altun said:
"It began to report on global issues, globalise the agenda, and demonstrate greater interest in global issues from the perspective of Türkiye. Again, I believe that one of the most significant achievements of Anadolu Agency in recent years is its capacity to present a solid, assertive experience and representation of Turkishness instead of an unfounded cosmopolitanism with no context. It became international and global, but it also regarded being a Türkiye-based news agency as crucial."
Underlining that AA plays a very important role as a news agency, Director of Communications Altun said, "If it were not for the productions of Anadolu Agency, 3 out of 4 news articles in the Turkish media would not exist today. Its news performance is crucial, and the creation of content is very significant."
Director of Communication Altun stated that severe digital fascism attacks are occurring worldwide and that serious disinformation has emerged as a result of a process that began with the internet, intensified with social media and culminated with artificial intelligence.
Pointing out that systematic disinformation campaigns are one of the most serious challenges facing the news sector and news agencies today, Altun added:
"We are facing a disinformation attack that began with the internet, intensified with social media and culminated with artificial intelligence and is becoming increasingly challenging to counter. Currently, our profession is under serious threat. We are actually dealing with a process that renders people incapable and declares war on the truth. We need to say it very clearly. We are faced with a digital landfill, and we are being asked to embrace this digital landfill and consider its products as 'citizen journalism' instead of journalism.This expectation is driven by the need to be politically correct, adhere to so-called liberal values, and have freedom of expression, among other similar concepts. However, the past 20 years of experience have taught us that journalism is a very serious profession, and in this regard, we must genuinely fight to safeguard the news and the profession. I believe that Anadolu Agency can lead a global struggle in this process."
Pointing out that not everything on social media is true, Director of Communications Altun highlighted the importance of Anadolu Agency's "Fact Check Line", "Discrimination Line," and "Green Line".
Director of Communications Altun emphasised that there is a very large segment of people who really use social media as a source of information and added that social media should not be preferred as a source of information.
"We increased the recognition of our brand value"
Chairman of the Board and Director General Serdar Karagöz of Anadolu Agency stated that since taking office, his primary objectives have been to position AA as one of the top news agencies in the world and to boost its competitive power on an international level.
Indicating that they have undertaken a comprehensive corporate transformation and reorganisation process in this direction over the last year, Karagöz stated that the new steps they have implemented within AA have increased the company's brand value recognition on an international level.
Emphasising that they have recently established new collaborations with the world's top news agencies and institutions, Karagöz noted that they play a more active role in the European Alliance of News Agencies (EANA) and the Organisation of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA).
Announcing that AA will host the OANA Board of Directors Meeting and Conference on October 22-25 in this context, Karagöz stated that AA will assume the term presidency of the Association of the Balkan News Agencies-Southeast Europe (ABNA-SE) as of September 2023.
"As AA, we make a difference in the global arena with our visual content."
Stating that AA's competitive power among international news agencies is most evident in its visual content, Serdar Karagöz continued:
"Today, we observe that AA's work stands out among international news agencies. The Russia-Ukraine War was one of the most visible demonstrations of our power in this area. During the war, AA provided the most effective and widely used visual content in the world. Again, during the February 6 earthquakes, AA was on the field with hundreds of personnel. AA conveyed all the developments regarding the earthquake to the world. Our goal is to increase our power in global competition further and become the best news agency in the world. We make a difference in the global arena, especially with our visual content. Increasing our success in this field and becoming an even stronger agency also means strengthening our agency financially. In this way, AA became one of the companies exporting services in Türkiye. We started to contribute to our country's exports by selling visual content."
Pointing out that foreign sales revenues have increased significantly in the last year, Karagöz stated that they have shaped their personnel capacity accordingly and that AA has recently employed many well-educated and talented young people.
Karagöz said that the support of the Presidency's Directorate of Communications and the Director of Communications, Prof. Fahrettin Altun, was also very effective in increasing AA's competitive power and brand value in the international arena, and he thanked Altun for this.
