Journalists Project for Goodwill

Armenian, Azerbaijani and Turkish journalists held a meeting in Ankara.

Yerevan

On June 15-17 in Ankara the second trilateral meeting under "Armenia-Azerbaijan-Turkey: Journalists Initiative-2002" was held.

Yerevan Press Club, "Yeni Nesil" Journalists Union of Azerbaijan and the Association of Diplomacy Correspondents of Turkey with the assistance of the OSI Network Media Program implement the project.

The first such meeting of media and journalistic associations of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey was held in March 2002 in Urgup (see YPC Weekly Newsletter, March 9-15, 2002).

Turkish Democracy Foundation supported the organization of the Ankara meeting.

During the first two days the Armenian and Azerbaijani journalists visited the editorial offices of the leading Turkish media - Anatolia News Agency, "Milliyet", "Radikal", "Turkish Daily News" dailies, "Star" media holding, "TV-8" and "Channel 7" TV companies.

At the round table held on June 17 the Armenian party made a presentation on the coverage of the development prospects of Azerbaijani-Turkish relations by Armenian media, the Azerbaijani and Turkish parties - on the coverage of the development prospects of Armenian-Turkish and of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations respectively by the media of their countries.

During the discussion the participants of the round table, where the public and political circles of Turkey were also represented, touched upon such sensitive issues as the recognition of the Armenian Genocide of 1915, Karabagh conflict resolution, the role of journalists and media in overcoming these problems, the establishment of climate of trust and cooperation in the region.

Summing up the meeting, the representatives of Yerevan Press Club, "Yeni Nesil" Journalists Union of Azerbaijan, the Association of Diplomacy Correspondents of Turkey and the Turkish Democracy Foundation signed a Press Memorandum, expressing their satisfaction with the constructive and productive atmosphere at their talks and reaffirming their commitment to further enhance their collaboration. The Memorandum reads in particular:

"The three journalistic organizations defend peaceful resolution of all regional problems and welcome all initiatives aimed at eradication of disputes through dialogue;

They reaffirm their belief that the development of regional cooperation in information sphere is the right platform for enhancing prospects of resolution of existing problems; (...)

In order to develop their cooperation and collaboration, the three organizations will prepare their further proposals and submit them to the scheduled fall trilateral meeting."

On June 20 at the Journalists Union of Armenia a press conference was held where the Armenian participants of the Ankara meeting shared their impressions of the trip with their colleagues. (NM)