Presidency to oversee Turkey's Anadolu Agency

ANKARA

The Presidential Communications Directorate has taken control of Turkey’s state news agency, according to a presidential decree in the Official Gazette on April 19.

The presidential body is now authorized to “audit the resources, organization and human resources” of Anadolu Agency, according to the decree reorganizing President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Directorate of Communications.

Oversight of Anadolu Agency will be spelled out in a contract between the news outlet and the directorate. The five-year contract will cover operations and management, including how agency managers will be appointed.

The presidential decree added an article regulating the duties of the communications directorate and giving the office authority to “determine the institutional communication standards to be applied by public institutions and organizations”.

Anadolu Agency is a joint stock company founded by Atatürk and his colleagues on April 6, 1920, in an effort to release news on the War of Independence. Anadolu Agency Corporation was established on March 1, 1925.

The directorate is chaired by Fahrettin Altun and conducts domestic and international communications and promotional activities of Turkey. The presidential body also supervises the Press Advertising Authority of Turkey and broadcaster TRT.