Istanbul Photo Awards exhibition opens in Tokyo

By Ahmet Esad Sani and Fatih Turkyilmaz

TOKYO (AA) - Anadolu Agency on Tuesday launched an exhibition in the Japanese capital Tokyo which features the works of award-winning photojournalists who competed in the international Istanbul Photo Awards 2019.

The Yunus Emre Institute's building in Tokyo is hosting the Istanbul Photo Awards exhibition, this year’s first overseas exhibition, sponsored by the Turkish Airlines and the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA).

"It is proud and exciting for all of my colleagues to see that the competition has a greater impact every year around the world," said Mustafa Ozkaya, Anadolu Agency's deputy director general, referring to the beginning of submissions for the 2020 event.

In 2019, Ozkaya said, photographers from more than 100 countries -- including Syria, Mexico, France and Indonesia -- and including war, conflict and disaster-hit regions, applied to contest with approximately 15,000 photographs.

Stating that he is pleased to open an exhibition in Tokyo, Ozkaya said that the last exhibition of 2019 will be held in New York in December.

Ozkaya thanked Turkey’s national flag carrier Turkish Airlines (THY) and Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) for assuming the official sponsorship of the contest as well as Yunus Emre Institute for hosting it.

"There is a photograph that reflects the world, there is a photograph that depicts a relationship. Surely there are many languages of the photographs," said Hasan Murat Mercan, Turkish Ambassador to Japan.

Mentioning the deep-rooted ties between Turkey and Japan, Mercan said that economic and cultural exchange between the two countries is growing.

Among the attendees of the opening ceremony were Muhammet Salih Demirkan, Anadolu Agency's deputy chairman of the board; Ural Yesil, director of Human Resources and Administrative Affairs; Huseyin Tuna, director of Yunus Emre Institute Tokyo; and Hiroki Sugita, a representative of Kyodo news agency.

Tokyo will host the exhibition until the end of the year.

Visitors will be able to view the winning images of the annual international photography contest, organized by Anadolu Agency.

Entries in the contest depict political incidents, migration crisis, natural disasters and striking life stories worldwide.

AFP photojournalist Ahmad Gharabli’s striking photo of a Palestinian woman and Israeli security officer taking photos of each other was chosen Photo of the Year 2019 in the Istanbul Photo Awards.