On September 20-24 in the vicinity of Turkish Kusadasi town the final third meeting of the Armenian, Azerbaijan and Turkish journalists under "Azerbaijan-Armenia-Turkey: Journalist Initiative-2002" project was held (see details on the two previous meetings in YPC Weekly Newsletter, June 15-21, 2002 and March 9-15, 2002). The project is implemented by Yerevan Press Club, "Yeni Nesil" Journalists’ Union of Azerbaijan and the Association of Diplomatic Correspondents of Turkey with the support of the OSI Network Media Program. The organization of the meeting was assisted by the Turkish Democracy Foundation.
The round table held on September 21-23 at "Pine Bay" hotel was devoted to the discussion of three reports. The Chief Editor of Baku "Zerkalo" daily Elchin Shikhli presented "The Monitoring Results for the Coverage of Relations between Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkey by the Media of Azerbaijan and Turkey". The presentation on "The Issue of Turkey’s Accession to the European Union as Viewed by the Armenian Press” was made by the head of "Region" Center of the Association of Investigative Journalists of Armenia Laura Baghdasarian. The Secretary-General of the Association of Diplomatic Correspondents of Turkey Kivanc Galip Over told about "The Karabagh Conflict in Turkish Media".
The presentations themselves and the subsequent discussion demonstrated the increased interest of the journalists to the prospects of the rapprochement of the three countries on the key issues that lie at the heart of the complicated relations between them. The analysis of the publications on its part shows that the journalists can significantly contribute the establishment of a constructive dialogue between the parties.
Having given credit to the work made under the project, the journalists participating in the round table as well as the representatives of the OSI Network Media Program discussed the possibilities of increasing the effectiveness of the partnership and its further expansion.
