By Sefa Mutlu
ISTANBUL (AA) – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan participated in Anadolu Agency's Photos of the Year contest, voting for his choices in the categories of news, sports and environment, and life.
After briefed by Anadolu Agency's Director General Serdar Karagoz about the photos, Erdogan voted for Sergen Sezgin's photo titled "the first ride of TOGG" in the news category, featuring Türkiye's first domestically produced electric car.
In the environment and life category, the president voted for the photo called "saving life" taken by Orhan Cicek, which shows a turtle being watered after rescued from wildfires in the Mugla province of the Turkish Aegean.
In the sports category, Erdogan voted for Salih Zeki Fazlioglu's photo titled "Sajdah of Shukr," in which Moroccan footballers offer prostration of gratitude after they beat Spain to advance to the 2022 FIFA World Cup quarterfinals in Qatar.
Photos of the year will be chosen among the 85 most impressive photos taken by Anadolu Agency photojournalists and reporters on a variety of subjects.
Images that defined 2022 include war, politics, sports, and current events that have had a significant effect on Türkiye and the world, and are frequently used in significant international media outlets.
This year, environment and life was added as a third category to the annual voting as a new initiative by Anadolu Agency in recent years to increase environmental awareness.
Annual voting for Photo of the Year competition, which Anadolu Agency hosted for the first time in 2012, is attended by Erdogan, as well as ministers, lawmakers, bureaucrats, athletes, and artists. A total of 312,136 people cast votes in 2021.
Voting will continue on photosoftheyear.aa.com.tr until 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) on Monday.
*Writing by Seda Sevencan