Istanbul Photo Awards exhibit opens in Vienna

VIENNA (AA) – Turkey’s leading news agency, Anadolu Agency, launched its first global photo exhibition in the Austrian capital of Vienna on Tuesday, displaying around 40 pictures covering key global events in 2015.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the exhibition held at Museum Quartier, Saban Kizildag -- the deputy chairman of Anadolu Agency’s Executive Board – said AA provides news, photos, info-graphics and information to its subscribers around the world with its 96-years of experience and as a reliable news hub.

“With its vast network of journalists and photo-journalists around the world, the agency publishes stories 24/7 in 11 languages. It has offices in 35 countries and journalists in 86 countries,” Kizildag said.

Referring to numerous people getting killed and displaced in Syria every day, Kizildag said: “We believe that photography has the power to unite people against all pain and brutality in the world.”

At the exhibition in Vienna, visitors can see the work of photographer Abd Doumany, whose photo of an injured Syrian boy was chosen as “Photo of the Year” by an international jury.

Also on display will be the work of Sergey Ponomarev, who caught images of refugees arriving to the Greek island of Lesbos for The New York Times, winning the Single News category and later a Pulitzer Prize.

Images by award-winning Santi Palacios, Ian MacNicol, and Valery Sharifulin will also be exhibited.

These photos were also featured at the Istanbul Photo Awards in 2016, first launched two years ago, and expected to include 13,000 photos from 84 countries this year.

Anadolu Agency also distributes its booklet “FETO's Coup Attempt in Turkey - A Timeline” to visitors of the exhibition.

Organized by the Anadolu Agency Corporate Communications Directorate, and sponsored by the Promotion Fund, Turkish Airlines, and the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA), the exhibition will be open through Oct. 2.