The First General Assembly of the Alliance of Turkic News Agencies (ATNA) held in Istanbul on Monday.

The event was attended by heads of news agencies of ATNA member countries - Azerbaijan, Türkiye, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, as well as Chairman of the Board of the Azerbaijan State News Agency (AZERTAC) Vugar Aliyev.

Speaking at the event, AZERTAC Chairman of Board Vugar Aliyev stressed the importance of making joint efforts to strengthen ATNA's activities. The Chairman of Board called on all member agencies to actively participate in the activities of the organization.

According to the decisions made at the first meeting of the Alliance, Anadolu Agency will chair ATNA in 2023-2025. Chairman of the Board and Director General of the Agency Serdar Karagoz was elected the President of the Alliance for the next two years, Bekzat Zhussupov, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Kazakhstan's “Qazcontent” - the Vice-President, and Chief of the Global Communication and Information Department of AZERTAC Elshan Shahbalayev - the Secretary General.

Kazakhstan's "Qazcontent" Agency will assume the presidency of ATNA in 2025-2027. The next General Assembly of the Alliance is scheduled to be held in Ok Astana.