Saudi ambassador to Türkiye votes in Anadolu's photo contest

By Ahmed Asmar

Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Türkiye took part Monday in selecting the photos of the year in Anadolu's international photo contest.

Fahd bin Asaad Abu Al-Nasr voted for photos in the contest’s five categories: "News," "Environment & Life," "Sports," "Earthquake: Hope" and "Gaza: Evidence."

In the News category, the ambassador voted for a photo titled "The flood swept away" by Mehmet Akif Parlak which documented the flood disaster in Türkiye's Sanliurfa region.

"It shows how nature sometimes can be devastating and destroy and how people deal with hard times," he said.

"It’s a very detailed and telling picture of what went on in this area," he added.

In the Environment & Life category, Abu Al-Nasr voted for Jeoffrey Maitem's photo "Path of fire" showing an active volcano in the Philippines.

"It is a very strong picture that shows the power of nature, and we as humans always have to understand it," he said, adding that "nature can be very powerful, and we have to always adjust and live with it."

Moving to the Sports category, the kingdom's ambassador voted for a photo of Turkish national archer Mete Gazoz at the World Archery Championship in Berlin, Germany which was taken by Omer Sercan Karkus and titled "Mete's aim."

"It shows how determined he was during the games," he said.

In the category "Gaza: Evidence," Abu Al-Nasr selected a photo titled "The Cry" by Belal Khaled which shows a Palestinian man holding the body of his cousin who he had just pulled out from the rubble following an Israeli airstrike on Gaza City.

He said the photo "shows the suffering of our brothers in Gaza and it shows that they are humans, they are not just numbers."

The ambassador added that the photo conveys that "they are people who are really suffering."

In the fifth category titled "Earthquake: Hope" dedicated to photos describing the catastrophic earthquakes that hit Türkiye last year, the ambassador voted for Aytug Can Sencar's photo titled "The hope of the earthquake," which documents the rescue of 6-month-old baby Ayse Vera after being stuck for 29 hours under a building in Türkiye‘s Hatay province.

"Definitely it conveys hope," Fahd said of the photo.

"It tells you there was a lot of effort made to save lives during this unfortunate event and that there is always hope with newborn babies," he added.

Every year, the Photos of the Year contest, which Anadolu hosted for the first time in 2012, is attended by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other officials, lawmakers, bureaucrats, athletes and several artists.