Sunday’s Zaman, turkey
Dec 20 2009
Turkey’s `foreign media initiative’ heats up
Turkey has begun a public diplomacy campaign involving its neighboring
countries through what has come to be called a `media initiative,’
which seeks to have foreign correspondents and media bosses visit
Turkey.
Following the appointment of Ahmet DavutoÄ?lu as foreign minister on
May 1, Turkey has worked to realize the `zero problems with neighbors’
principle in its foreign policy, a result of which has been
intensified efforts to normalize relations with Armenia and Syria.
Top-level visits exchanged with Russia in the first half of the year
strengthened Turkish-Russian relations. Numerous agreements that have
been signed with Syria, Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Egypt, Jordan and Armenia
have shifted Turkey’s weight in regional affairs. To show that the
normalization of relations with Turkey’s neighbors is not only on the
leadership level, the Turkish government is taking steps to
familiarize local media organs of neighboring countries with Turkish
politics, economy and culture. By doing so, the Turkish government
aims to positively shape public opinion with respect to Turkey in
surrounding countries.
To bolster its foreign policy initiatives through engaging the people
of neighboring countries, the Turkish government has started to
organize trips of media representatives from abroad. Recently,
Bulgarian, Moldovan, Azerbaijani and Syrian journalists visited Turkey
to meet with local media representatives, government officials,
representatives from political parties, civil society organizations
and companies. The last such a visit concluded on Friday and involved
a delegation comprising Syrian media bosses. The delegation, invited
by the Foreign Ministry, met with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an.
The move is expected to improve relations prior to the prime
minister’s visit to Syria on Dec. 23, Neslihan Gözükara from the
Directorate General of Press and Information (BYEGM), who coordinated
the Syrian delegation’s trip, informed Sunday’s Zaman.
Speaking to Sunday’s Zaman, BYEGM General Director Salih Melek said
media representatives from neighboring countries previously visited
Turkey as tourists but that they now visit to learn something, to
launch new projects and to start beneficial initiatives. `We organize
visits by groups of journalists and try to serve them as best we can.
Some of them are interested in investment opportunities, trade
possibilities and economic relations. We help them meet
representatives from related companies. Some of them want to meet with
government officials, politicians and bureaucrats; we again try to do
our best to make that happen,’ Melek said.
Commenting on the recent foreign policy initiatives, Melek said the
new initiatives help foreign journalists and media bosses get to know
Turkey better. `In the early 2000s, there were approximately 130-140
journalists coming to Turkey each year. Now that number has already
boiled over to 2,000 every year,’ Melek said, adding that the number
is constantly growing.
Most of the groups of journalists visit big cities such as Ä°stanbul
and the capital, Ankara. However, BYEGM also organizes trips to cities
such as Gaziantep, Bursa, Kayseri and Konya to display Turkish culture
and lifestyle to foreign reporters and media bosses. Many foreign
journalists recently covered Å?eb-i Arus, ceremonies marking the 736th
anniversary of the death of Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi, in Konya. Melek
also said they send journalists from the European Union to Konya to
become familiar with Turkish culture and the nation’s religion.
Trip coordinators are very well organized and financed. The
government’s chief press information body pays travel costs, if
necessary, accommodation and all expenses faced by visiting media
representatives. The trip program is organized according to the
journalists’ requests and desires. `They choose with whom to meet and
where to go. We only help them arrange meetings and take care of
logistics,’ Melek noted.
Melek also said these trips help promote Turkey in other countries.
`We broadcast in 11 languages and are working on launching broadcasts
in Arabic and French very soon. Foreigners will now be able to follow
Turkey through these channels,’ Melek added.
Meanwhile, a group of Turkish journalists are in the Armenian capital
of Yerevan to meet with representatives of civil society
organizations, government officials and media representatives there.
Speaking to Sunday’s Zaman from Armenia, Mensur Akgün, the director of
the Global Political Trends Center (GPoT) and the organizer of the
trip, said the primary aim of the visit is to contribute to the
development of relations between the two countries. Akgün also added
that among their goals in organizing a trip of Turkish media
representatives to Armenia is improved understanding of one another by
the two sides, overcoming prejudices and the development of stability
in the region. `We also want to contribute to intensifying peace
efforts in the Azerbaijani-Armenian conflict,’ Akgün said.
He noted that the first leg of the meeting between journalists from
both countries was held in Bursa, during the 2010 World Cup qualifying
soccer match between Turkey and Armenia on Oct. 10, and that it is now
the turn of Turkish journalists to visit Armenia.
20 December 2009, Sunday
MAHÄ°R ZEYNALOV Ä°STANBUL