Foreign Press Association in Italy gets its first Turkish chairwoman

ISTANBUL – Doğan News Agency

Doğan News Agency’s Rome correspondent Esma Çakır has been appointed as the chairwoman of the Foreign Press Association (Associazione della Stampa Estera in Italian), which has been operating in the Italian capital since 1912.

Çakır, 38, has become the first Turk and fourth woman to be appointed to the position in the 106-year history of the association, which has more than 350 members from 54 countries.

Previously, Ann-Marie Kjellander from Sweden, Valentina Alazraki from Mexico and Marcelle Padovani from France served as chairwomen of the association.

The new board of management under the supervision of Çakır officially started active duties on March 29.

The new board has 12 members from 10 countries, including Venezuela, Sweden, Italy, the Netherlands, Canada, Spain, San Marino, Chile, France and Turkey.

Çakır expressed her excitement about her new position, saying she is aware of the responsibilities.

“I am very happy to see that a woman has been elected for this position and I believe this is a sign of the desire for change,” she said.

Çakır, who started her journalism career at daily Hürriyet in 2001, has been working as Doğan News Agency’s Rome correspondent since 2009.