Journalists from Arab countries come together in Istanbul, tour third airport

ISTANBUL

As part of the events organized for the six-day long Istanbul Forum for Arab Journalists, 60 visiting participants were taken to see the construction of Istanbul’s new airport on May 10 and told about all the services that would be offered. 

During the tour, the journalists attended a presentation by the airport’s Chief Executive Officer Kadri Samsunlu, who affirmed that Arabic would be one of the languages in which all the services would be available, state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

Organized by the Istanbul Municipality for the first time, the Istanbul Forum for Arab Journalists has seen the attendance of 60 journalists from 18 Arab countries, including Egypt, Syria Libya, Sudan, and Tunisia with a view to having fruitful discussions with their Turkish counterparts.

Rıdvan Duran, head of the technical affairs department of Istanbul Municipality said “Istanbul is one of the most visited cities in the world,” while he welcomed the Arab journalists on May 8.

“Istanbul currently hosts about 700 thousand different Arab nationalities,” he added, wishing the journalists a good time in the city.

On the first day of the forum, the journalists were welcomed by a large number of Turkish officials and members of the press. The visiting journalists were taken on a tour of Istanbul’s captivating Bosphorus Strait, during which they listened to Turkish music and tasted a large selection of delicacies from Turkish cuisine.

In a speech he gave on the sidelines of the forum, al-Sadeq Ahmed Ibrahim, the head of the Union of Sudanese Journalists, said the historical ties between Istanbul and the Arab world were “solid and old.”

“We and our Turkish counterparts have to work together to promote the great human values and the decent principles of media,” he said.

For his part, Bashir al-Bakr, the editor-in-chief of the al-Araby al-Jadeed newspaper, said Turkey meant a lot to them.

“Turkey is already involved in various Arab issues as a dynamic that helps maintain the balance in the region,” he said.

Al-Bakr pointed out that Turkey treated Syrians as it treated its citizens at all levels, particularly in education and health.

“This is an important and spiritual position that should be greeted and respected,” he said.

“We journalists have the task of building bridges between the Arab and Turkish shores,” said al-Bakr.